LIBRARYj)F CONGRESS^" 



APR P 1884 



\ 



A.CAJ3IA. 



A LOST CHAPTER 

IN 

American History 



BY PHILIP F. SMITH 



IL LUSTRATED 




"The beloved Acadian land, the land of Evangeline." (Longfellow.) 
"Let those who would persecute or proscribe for opinion's sake, and 
limit by political exclusion the right to worship God in the form by which 
he who worships, chooses ; who would, if let alone, join in the hunt or 
exile of those who, like the Acadians, cherish the faith of their childhood 
and ancestors, let them read the story of the Acadian Exiles, and beware 
of the sure retribution of History." (Memoirs Penn.JEIist^^aciety.) 




PAWLING N. Y. 

Published by the Author 
1884 



.Sfc5 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 188-1, by 

PHILIP H. SMITH, 

In the O^ice of the Librarian of Congress, D. C. 



v 






^ 



! 



' * 



PREFACE 



The story of Evangeline, from its tender pathos, its touch- 
ing appeals to the deeper emotions of the soul, and the sin- 
gularly romantic historical episode on which the poem is 
based, has ever been, to the writer of this volume, a work of 
interest. A longing to behold the land of those Acadian 
Exiles, "who had aforetime dwelt by the Basin of Minas," 
imperceptibly grew up, which was at length gratified : the 
memory of the brief sojourn in the "Acadian Land," will 
ever remain among his most highly treasured recollections. 

Then came a desire to know more of that afflicted people, 
and of the facts attending their expulsion from the soil of 
their ancestors. The author was surprised that this chap- 
ter of American annals had been passed over in almost ut- 
ter silence by nearly every American historian, and that the 
only books treating of the subject at any length, with a sin- 
gle exception, were a few old and rare volumes, many of 
which were scarcely to be had at any price, and none of 
them accessible to the general reader. This suggested the 
preparation of these pages to meet the demand of those 
who might, like himself, feel prompted to peruse the details 
of this sad passage in the world's history. 

In accomplishing the task, the author wishes to state 



6 ACADIA 

that he has made free use of co-temporary hist ory, not only 
as to facts, but likewise incorporating portions of the text, 
when such a course seemed preferable. Upwards of fifty 
authorites have been laid under contribution, and it is his 
own fault if some of the best portions in each have not been 
culled. To mention each of them by name would unneces- 
sarily burden these pages, and he hopes this acknowledg- 
ment will be considered sufficient without a pedantic dis- 
play of marginal notes. 

The typographical work was done in a " country office," 
with a nfty-pound font of type and an old Liberty job press, 
the stereotyping being executed with home-made apparatus, 
after a process developed from personal experiment. The 
illustrations, also by himself, whatever may be their artist- 
ic worth, are believed to faithfully represent the subjects 
they are designed to elucidate, which, after all, must be ad- 
mitted to be the prime and legitimate purpose of illustration. 
The author feels at liberty to make this statement out of jus- 
tice to himself, inasmuch as the book must of necessity com- 
pete, in an overcrowded market, with other books that have 
not only received the careful manipulation of half a score of 
artisans, skilled in as many distinct trades, but also have 
engaged in their manufacture complicated machinery to the 
value of thousands of dollars. 

Thus much touching the mechanical and literary execu- 
tion of the work. As to the historical data given in the 
book, and the conclusions drawn therefrom, the author ex- 
pects, and furthermore, cordially invites the most search- 
ing criticisms, as he is well aware the subject involves na- 
tional pride and prejudice, and all are entitled to a hearing. 



PREFACE I 

What he gives as facts are taken from what he believes to 
be reliable sources, and he has only stated his honest con- 
victions, wherever the blame may fail. 

Another departure is, the volume is put on the market 
without the imprint of an influential publishing house to 
give it currency among the people. The writer believes 
the subject to be one that will introduce the book, and 
prefers to control its sale himself ; and trusts that the mod- 
esty of his pretensions will prompt the trade to extend a 
friendly hand. 

Could he be assured that the reader, under whose eye 
this book may chance to fall, may derive as much enjoy- 
ment in its perusal as he has had in the collection of the 
materials and subsequent compilation, then the pen will be 
laid down with the feeling that the labor has not been per- 
formed in vain. And should it cause one sympathetic heart 
to pause in the midst of the bustle of the present and drop 
a tear of compassion to the memory of the poor exiles, 
now gone from earth and almost forgotten, then the rec- 
ompense will be still greater. 

With these explanations the volume is sent out into the 
world to buffet with the waves of competition and preju- 
dice, to ride out the storm in safety, or be swallowed up 
as many a more meritorious book has been before. 

Pawling, Feb. 1st, 1884. 



• 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 11 

Preliminary Discourse - - - 17 

Early Explorations 24 

Attempts at Colonization 35 

Permanent Settlement - - - 40 
The La Tours ----- 56 

From Grand-Fontaine to Menneval - 83 

VlLLEBON ON THE St. JOHN 96 

* Fall op Port Eoyal - - - - 103 

Troubles of the French - - - 114 

Capture of Louisbourg - 129 

•Refusing the Oath - 145 

Fall of Beausejour - 163 

Preliminary to Expulsion - - - 167 

Expulsion of the French Neutrals - - 188 

The French Neutrals in Pennsylvania - 228 

" " " " Massachusetts - - 242 

Affairs in Acadia - - - 250 

Downfall of French Rule in America - - 265 

English Occupation .... 276 
The Fisheries ..... 313 

Legends ■ 322 

Appendix - • - - • - 367 



INTRODUCTION. 



Where is Acadia? 

It is not down on the maps. Like the simple and indus- 
trious yeomanry which comprised its inhabitants, its record 
is to be searched after in the dim annals of the past. Were 
it not that a poet has attuned its story to verse, and there- 
by caused thousands of hearts to throb with emotions of 
mingled pity and indignation, and so rendered it immortal, 
it might have remained in oblivion. Who has not heard 
of Evangeline ? Her name is a household word over the civ- 
ilized world, for the translations of the poem are legion, so 
well adapted is it to stir the deepest sentiments of the soul. 
To put the question differently, Where was Acadia? 

When France first acquired dominion in the New World 
she gave to her newly acquired territory the beautiful name, 
X'Acadie, or in its anglicized form, Acadia. By the treaty 
of Utrecht, in 1713, that power made over to the Queen of 
England all "Acadia comprised within its ancient bounda- 
ries." These territorial limits became afterward a great na- 
tional question, the French claiming that Acadia comprised 
only the peninsula now known as Nova Scotia, while the Eng- 
lish maintained it included the surrounding islands and 
much of the mainland now called New Bruuswick. Great 
Britain had previously undertaken to establish a Scottish 
Barony in the same territory, giving to the country its 
present name of Nova Scotia, or New Scotland. It will an- 



12 ACADIA 

swer our purpose best to make these terms interchangeable 
in the succeeding chapters. 

Nova Scotia is bounded on the northwest by New Bruns- 
wick and the Bay of Fundy, north by the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence and the Northumberland Straits, and on the other 
sides by the Atlantic. It has an area of 18,670 square 
miles, or about double that of the State of New Hampshire. 
The form of the peninsula has been compared to that of a 
mitten, the thumb being the isthmus joining it to New 
Brunswick. No part of Nova Scotia is more than thirty 
miles from the sea. A belt of rugged rocks stretches along 
the whole southern shore, and by the Bay of Fundy coast. 
The inland is rich in minerals, well-wooded, and in many 
parts, exceedingly fertile. 

That long line of rocky coast forming the southern bound- 
ary of Nova Scotia is not unfrequently broken into shapes 
of picturesque boldness. Sometimes the rocks erect a dark 
and perpendicular wall, against which the storms of the At- 
lantic have beaten for ages. At other times, the ocean, pen- 
etrating far inland, forms interior seas, around which clus- 
ter the cabins of the fishermen, each with its fish-flakes and 
its fishing boat moored near at hand. These bays resemble 
In their general features the Norwegian fjords, and give 
food and occupation to the peasantry ; and except when ag- 
itated by storms, suggest nought but fertility and peace. 

There comes a change when the tempest breaks over the 
sea, and the billows dash impetuously among the shoals. The 
stoutest heart shrinks in awe at the display of Divine pow- 
er, and happy is the bark that can find a safe harbor when 
old Ocean is once fully roused. The landsman shudders as 
the gun comes booming over the water from the vessel in 
distress, calling for the help that too often is unavailable ; 
and when morning breaks, and the storm has passed, naught 
but a broken hull and a few shattered spars are left to tell 
the tale. Notwithstanding that lighthouses shed their 



PREFACE 13 

friendly beams from every jutting headland; and sirens, 
bell boats, fog trumpets and whistling buoys warn the anxious 
sailor when the fogs hide the lights, and life-boats, manned 
by sturdy arms, are ready to brave the dangers of the deep 
to aid the shipwrecked mariner; — in short, after all that 
human skill can devise, or humanity suggest, for lessening 
the dangers to shipping, these iron-bound coasts and their 
insatiate shoals continue to demand and receive many a hol- 
ocaust of human victims. 

But little is known of Nova Scotia by the average Ameri- 
can, and that little is closely associated with ideas of a 
sinister kind. "Ought to be banished to Nova Scotia!" 
"Wish it was in Halifax!" are mild forms of anathemas to 
which we have been accustomed from childhood. But this 
territory has a just claim on the heart of every citizen of our 
republic. 

Hundreds of brave New Englanders lie sleeping beneath 
the greensward on Point Rochf ort, beneath the once frown- 
ing battlements of Louisbourg, who lost their lives in the 
early struggles for the possession of that fortress. The 
Acadian seas are literally strewn with the wrecks of vessels 
sent out from New England ports, the fate of whose crews 
will never be revealed until the sea yields up its dead. The 
shores of Bedford Basin are hallowed to the memory as the 
sepulchre of many a Revolutionary hero, who perished there 
in captivity. It has a place in history as the refuge of 
thousands of American Loyalists, who were there given 
new homes by the King in whose interest they suffered ban- 
ishment We have already referred to the expatriated Aca- 
dians, who were violently torn from thence, and scattered 
throughout the English colonies on the Continent. It is al- 
so the domain of the fisheries, which subject has long been 
a question of national issue between the two great powers 
of England and the United States, and which is soon to 
come before the people for further adjudication or arbitra- 



14 ACADIA 

ment. It seems almost incredible that the citizens of our 
country should manifest so little interest in a land whose 
varying fortunes have ever been so closely associated with 
our own. 

It is emphatically a land of romance. The annals of the 
early adventurers need not the gilding of fiction to invest 
them with interest. Its history is made up of bloody strife, 
startling events, and singular experiences. It has been the 
scene of military victories by sea and land which have illu- 
minated, in turn, the cities of France, England, and the 
United States; and its soil has drank some of the noblest 
blood of those great nations. It is here that the demon of 
religious intolerance has been most rampant r and fratricidal 
wars exerted their most baneful influence. Here, too, par- 
ticularly in remote French settlements, superstition holds 
powerful sway. The headlands of the coast are haunted 
with the lost spirits of the victims of the nu.nberless wrecks- 
strewn among the rocks ; weird lights flicker about the seas- 
on wild and stormy nights ; strange voices inhabit the air ? 
and foreboding signs appear in the sky; while the spectral 
feax-folltts, and the dreaded loiqis-garous, prowl about the 
country on the watch for souls. It is here that the passion 
for the finding of hidden treasures has the strongest hold 
on the people; — the fact that the French Neutrals buried 
much of their treasure at their extirpation, being a pre- 
disposing cause. 

In marked contrast are the works of Nature as disclosed 
in this corner of the world. In the proper season, one may 
ride for fifty miles in the Annapolis Valley under the con- 
tinuous shade of apple orchards in full bloom. Nolovel er 
spot is there in the wide world, no happier blending Oi wa- 
ter, plain and mountain, than at Grand Pre, on the shores 
of the Basin of Minas. And yet, within a few hours' ride, 
are the waters wherein the current from the Gulf of Mexico 
and the floods from the Kiver and Gulf of St. Lawrence, im- 



PREFACE 15 

pinge their momentous force against each other; where the 
iceberg rocks in the waves, and the sea-fog hangs over the 
deep, imperilling the navigation, and sending many a weary 
mariner to his long home. 

The tides, which here surpass those of any other quarter 
of the globe, are among the most wonderful features of 
Nature's exhibit. Says a writer: "At the head of Cobe- 
quid Bay, the flood- tide is preceded by an immense tidal 
wave, or *bore,' which, at spring tides, is sometimes six 
feet high. At low water, nearly sixty square miles of sand, 
shingle and mud flats are laid bare; tne flood rises more 
rapidly than the water can advance, and the result is the 
formation of a splendid wave more than four miles long, 
which rolls over the flats and quicksands uTa sheet of foam, 
and with the roar of thunder, washing away, or burying up 
everything before it. Vessels lying with their broadsides to 
fche bore are rolled over, — their masts are broken, and they 
are left half buried in the shingle: the skill of the pilot is, 
however, equal to this danger, and accidents seldom occur." 

It may be said, that few places offer greater inducements 
to the summer tourist or to the sportsman, than do the seas 
and mountains of this Acadian land. The woods are full 
of game, and the waters abound in fish; one may traverse 
in boats, almost every portion of the country; and the place 
has only to be better known to attract the thousands of rest- 
seekers from abroad. 

In the present work no pretensions are made to a full and 
exhaustive treatise of the subject. It is believed, however, 
that the more salient points have been touched upon, and 
sufficient given to shed light on a subject that has long re- 
mained in obscurity. Though the scope includes the entire 
period succeeding the discovery of Acadia, the expulsion of 
the French Neutrals is designedly made a leading feature of 
the volume. In this, as in the other portions, the authoi 
has drawn his materials from the most reliable sources. 



16 ACADIA 

Haliburton, a standard authority in Nova Scotia, referring" 
to the absence from the public records of that Province, of 
the official documents covering the period of the forced ex- 
tirpation of these people, gives it as his belief that they 
have been purposely abstracted, with the view to cover up 
the traces of the deed ; and he wrote more than half a cen- 
tury ago. Since then the records have been filled up by 
copies obtained from the state paper office in England, and 
from those at Quebec, primarily obtained from the archives 
at Paris. Of these the author has availed himself in the 
present compilation. Extracts are given originally procured 
from Winslow's letter book; the journals of the Colonial 
Assemblies, and other trustworthy sources, have likewise 
been freely utilized. The papers of the French Neutrals 
having been forcibly taken from them, they cannot be heard 
in their own behalf, except as they have told the story of 
their sufferings in two memorials, one to the King of Great 
Britain, and the other to the Pennsylvania Assembly, cop- 
ies of which may be found in the Appendix of this volume. 
The reader can compare the declarations therein contained 
with the accounts taken from English sources given in 
the body of the work, and then, in the light of all these 
facts, judge for himself whether the despoiling of fifteen 
thousand pastoral people of their farms and firesides, and 
the dispersion of most of them in indigence among a peo- 
ple aliens in language and religion, was "a justifiable and 
necessary measure." 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 



To the lover of romance as well as to the student of ver- 
itable history, no quarter of the world is more rich in inter- 
est than Acadia — a land which has been poetically immor- 
talized as " The Land of Evangeline." Whether we turn 
to the misty era of the early "Sea Rovers of the North," 
the records of whose voyages seem like quaint, legendary 
tales, or to the later historical epoch, when the virgin soil 
was enriched with the blood of so-called civilized nations in 
their eager strife for its possession ; or whether we contem- 
plate the stern and pitiless aspect of Nature as exhibited in 
the war of the elements raging in fierce grandeur about 
the rock-bound coasts, or survey her in her milder moods as 
displayed in sunny seas and glowing landscapes, — in all 
there is that which holds the student spell-bound to the sto- 
ry of this enchanted land. 

Previous to the discoveries of Columbus, the country 
beyond the trackless sea was a fruitful theme ox visionary 
speculation and traditionary tale. Plato's imaginary island 
of Atlantis opposite the Straits of Gibraltar, was by many 
bcneved to actually exist. Much was said and written of 
the fabulous Island of St. Brandan,* which for along while 



* The inhabitants of the Canaries fancied they beheld a mountainous 
island lying far to the westward, visible only at intervals and in perfectly 
Bereno Wf%ther. They sent several expeditions, but every attempt to 



18 ACADIA. 

haunted the imaginations of the people of the Canaries ; 
and even the speculative "Island of Seven Cities "f was giv- 
en a place on the charts of the learned geographers of the 
time. 

That the Norse mariners visited parts of Acadia centuries 
before the era of Columbus' discoveries, is a fact well authen- 
ticated. Original manuscripts of the voyages of these Sea- 
"Vikings have been carefully preserved in Iceland. They 
were first published at Copenhagen in 1837, with a Danish 
and a Latin translation. Within the whole range of the lit- 
erature o2 discovery and adventure, no writings can be 
found that bear better evidence of authenticity. 



reach it proved futile. Still so many had testified to seeing it, and so 
nearly did their testimony agree as to its form and position, that its ex- 
istence was believed in, and it was put down on their maps. Traditions 
were told of some tempest-tossed mariners having at one time landed up- 
on the island, but were forced to return to their ship by reason of a "harsh 
wind which arose;" in an instant they lost sight of the land, and could not 
again find it, nor did they afterwards hear of the two sailors that had 
been abandoned in the woods. On another occasion it was said a vessel 
touched at this mysterious island, and anchored in a beautiful harbor at 
the mouth of a mountain ravine. A number of sailors landed and wan- 
dered about in various directions. Seeing night approaching, those on 
board signalled for their return to the ship; scarcely were they on board 
when a whirlwind came down the ravine with such violence as to carry 
the vessel out to sea. They never saw more of this inhospitable island. 

t A popular tradition concerning the ocean, in which seven bishops flee- 
ing from Spain at the time of the Moorish conquest, landed on an un- 
known island in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, burnt their ships to pre- 
vent the desertion of their followers, and abandoned themselves to their 
fate. Here they founded seven cities. According to common report 
some sea-faring men presented themselves before King Henry, of Portugal, 
stating they had landed upon this island, the dust of which they found to 
be one-half gold — hoping to secure a reward for their intelligence. They 
were ordered to return immediately and procure further information, but 
the seamen, fearing their falsehood would be discovered, made their es- 
cape, and nothing more was heard of them. 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE 19 

In the year 861, Iceland was discovered by a Norse Rover 
named Nadodd, and soon became a place of great interest; 
in two or three centuries we find its people had become em- 
inent among the Norse coinimmities for their intellectual 
culture, and for their daring and skill in navigation. 

" Eirek the Red " occupied a prominent place as one of 
the early mariners. The Norse narrative introduces Eirek's 
voyage of discovery as follows : " There was a man of no- 
ble family named Thorwald. He and his son Eirek, sur- 
named the Red, were obliged to flee from Jadir (in the south- 
west part of Norway), because, in some feud which arose, 
they committed a homicide. They went to Iceland, which 
at that time was colonized." Thorwald died soon after, and 
the restless spirit of Eirek at length involving him in an- 
other feud in Iceland, he was a second time guilty of tak- 
ing the life of a fellow being. The narrative continues: 
"Having been condemned by the court, he resolved to leave 
Iceland. His vessel being prepared, and everything in 
readiness, Eirek's partisans in the quarrel accompanied him 
some distance. He told them he was going in search of 
the land Gunniborn had seen when driven by a storm into 
the Western Ocean, promising to return if his search proved 
successful. Embarking from the western side of Iceland, 
Eirek steered boldly for the west. At length he saw land, 
and called the place Mldjokul. Then coasting along the 
Bhore in a southerly direction, he sought a place more suit- 
able for settlement. He spent the winter on a part of the 
coast which he named 'Eirek's Island.' A satisfactory sit- 
uation for his colony having been found, he remained there 
two years." The country discovered and colonized by 
Eirek was Greenland. 

Eirek returned to Iceland, and as a result of his repre- 
sentations of the newly discovered country, " twenty-five 
ships," filled with emigrants and stores, returned with him 
to Greenland. This happened, says the chronicle, "fifteen 



20 



ACALTA 




NOEMAN SHIP 



years before the Christian re- 
ligion was introduced into Ice- 
land," or fifteen years previ- 
ous to 1000 A. D. Biarni, a 
chief man among these colon- 
ists, was absent in Norway 
when they sailed from Iceland. 
On his return he decided to 
follow and join the colony ; 
and although neither he nor 
his companions had ever seen Greenland, or sailed the 
Greenland Sea, he boldly embarked, and made one of the 
most remarkable and fearful voyages on record. It must be 
borne in mind that the "ship" of those early times, with 
its quaint proportions and '• dragon prow;" was so unsea- 
wortby, that, in this day of advanced nautical skill, it would 
be deemed an act of sheer madness to essay an ocean voy- 
age in so frail a vessel. 

On leaving Iceland they sailed three days with a fair 
wind; then arose a storm of northeasterly winds, accompa- 
nied by very cloudy thick weather. For many days they 
were driven before this storm, into trackless 
and unknown waters. At length the weath- 
er cleared, and they could see the sky. — 
They sailed west another day, and saw land? 
different from any they had formerly known, 
for it "was not very mountainous." Biarni 
said this could not be Greenland. They put 
about and steered in a northeasterly direc- 
tion two days more. Again they saw land 
which was low and level. Biarni thought 
this could not be Greenland. For three 
more days they sailed in the same direction, 
and came to a land that was "mountainous, 
and covered with ice." This proved to be an island around 




NORSEMAN 



PKELIMINAHY DISCOURSE 



21 




^& 



OLD TCWER 



which they sailed. Steering north they sailed four days, 
and again discovered land, which proved to be Greenland. 
They were on the southern coast near 
the new settlement. It is manifest 
that the first land Biarni saw was 
Cape Cod ;* the next was the north- 
ern part of Nova Scotia; and the 
island around which they coasted 
was Newfoundland. This voyage 
was made five hundred years earlier 
than the first voyage of Columbus. 

The period of these adventures was 
during the dark ages, at a time when 

ignorance and superstition brooded over the world like the 
demon of night. But little was known among the nations 
of Europe of the voyages of the Norsemen ; and that little 
seems to have been regarded as " dim, traditionary tales of 
old Sea-Kings," and only served to deepen a sense of the 
mystery of the great unknown beyond the sea. 

Centuries passed away. Gradually the light of intelli- 
gence began to be shed abroad among the benighted na- 
tions. Slowly but surely the world was being prepared for 
a great event which the guiding hand of Providence was 
now to bring about. 

On the 4th of March, 1493, a vessel sought shelter in the 
port of Lisbon. Her coming was unheralded ; her seamen 
were weary and weather-worn ; her sails had suffered the 
strain and shock of fierce tempests; yet that frail, leaky 
bark was the bearer of tidings that were to work great so- 
cial and political changes among the nations of the earth. — - 



* These early Navigators gave the country they had discovered the 
name of " Helluland. " They are supposed to have erected the old round 
tower at Newport. Certain it is the Indians had no tradition of its origin 
when the whites first came amone them. 



22 ACADIA 

It was the caravel of Columbus, returned from bis first voy- 
age of discovery. 

The triumphal reception of Columbus by the sovereigns 
under whose patronage he had sailed, and the agitation pro- 
duced throughout Europe by the report of his discoveries, 
are facts in history too well known to need repetition here. 
Learned men, appreciating what was sure to follow, " ex- 
ulted over the fact they were living in an age marked by 
such an event as the discovery of a New World." Kings 
and Emperors, anxious to extend their power, or to add to 
their wealth, became eager patrons of explorers; daring ad- 
venturers, anxious to distinguish themselves by some im- 
portant discovery, or seeking to open up some channel of 
sudden wealth, undertook expeditions into unknown seas ; 
while not a few, assuming a more religious view of the mat- 
ter, went among the newly discovered people for the pur- 
pose of converting them to the Christian religion. For up- 
wards of half a century the minds of kings and subjects 
were occupied with this all-absorbing topic. And now the 
" vaunted wisdom of antiquity began to pale as the light of 
discovery broke in upon them," scattering to the winds their 
learned theories and hypotheses of the wide waste of wa- 
ters. Says Humboldt — " The fifteenth century forms a 
transition epoch, belonging at once to the middle ages and 
to the commencement of modern times. It is the epoch of 
the greatest discoveries in geographical space j and to the 
inhabitants of Europe it doubled the works of creation, 
while it offered to the intellect new and powerful incite- 
ments to the improvement of the natural sciences." 

Men of broken fortunes, and restless spirits of every 
class, could now find employment befitting their ambition. 
Not since the crusades had an event been so opportune. — 
The golden lure was held out to them, and many clutched 
at the proffered bait. The love of conquest became a rul- 
ing passion : — Cortez, a soldier of inferior rank, suddenly 



niiHl 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE 23 

found himself fired with an ambition which required the 
blood of a million of native Mexicans to satisfy. Surely it 
was an unlucky day for the races of the new world when the 
eye of Europeans first opened upon it. 

As the vast wealth and resources of the newly-discovered 
land came to be better known, bitter rivalries sprang up be- 
tween the European powers for its possession. The relig- 
ious dissensions then raging throughout Christendom add- 
ed fuel to the fires of national discord and jealousy. It was 
under these conditions of political aud civil commotion that 
the Acadia of American History had its birth ; and as it not 
unfrequently happens in medical practice, the pain is expe- 
rienced in one part, while the disease that causes the pain is 
to be sought for elsewhere, so we may read, in the suffer- 
ings of hapless, helpless Acadia, the varied changes in the 
political phases of the Old World. 




EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



THE CABOTS. 



A few years subsequent to the first voyage of Columbus, 
the Cabots were taking a prominent part in nautical achieve- 
ments. They were natives of Venice, and of renowned skill 
in maritime pursuits. They sailed under British colors, 
and were duly authorized, as their commission read, "to 
discover and possess the isles, regions, and provinces, of 
the heathen and infidels.*" In the spring of 1498, the ship 
Matthew, in company with three or four smaller vessels, all 
displaying the proud flag of England, left Bristol and steered 
westward. They bore John Cabot and his son Sebastian, 
who, with their followers were essaying the passage of the 
North Atlantic, On the 24th of June they discovered the 
main land of America, which they named Prima Vista. — 
The same day they saw an island opposite, which they called 
St. John, from the day of discovery. Here they found the 
inhabitants clothed with skins, and they fought with darts, 
bows and arrows : three of these natives they carried off to 
England. But meagre records of the voyage have been 
handed down, yet there are good reasons for supposing the 
lands discovered to be the main land of Labrador, and the 
island of Newfoundland. They describe the country as 
sterile and uncultivated, with no fruit. White bears, and 
stags of unusual hight, were numerous. The waters were 
full of fish, especially of the kind called by the natives bac- 
alleosy which poetical name has since degenerated into sun- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS 25 

pie "cod." Proceeding northward they encountered those 
terrors to navigators of northern waters — icebergs. Be- 
coming alarmed, they turned helm, and coasted southward 
as far as Florida. The voyages of the Cabots gave to Great 
Britain her claim to the New World. 

GASPAR DE CORTEAL. 

Two years later [1500] Gaspar de Corteal, a Portuguese 
navigator, sailing from the port of Lisbon, touched at the 
coast of Labrador, which he named Terre Verde. He sur- 
passed the English in disregarding the rights of the abo- 
rigines — capturing fifty-seven of them, which he afterward 
sold as slaves in Europe. The country from whence these 
unfortunates were taken is described as abounding in im- 
mense pines, fit for masts, w T hich would prove the land 
could not have been far to the north. It was thickly peo- 
pled ; the natives used hatchets and arrowheads of stone; 
they lived in rudely constructed huts, were clad with the 
skins of wild animals, and were a well-made and robust 
race. This description might well apply to the Indians of 
Acadia. Encouraged by the success attending his first un- 
dertaking, Corteal set out in the following year for anoth- 
er cargo of timber and slaves. But neither himself nor any 
of his crew were ever heard of more. His brother Michael 
de Corteal fitted out two ships and went in search of him, 
and he, too, shared the fate of his relative. "The avenging 
spirit overwhelmed them on the trackless deep, and they 
were never permitted to again see the shores they had pol- 
luted with the curse of human trafiic." 

VERAZZANI. 

Nearly a quarter of a century elapsed when the King of 
France determined on sending an expedition to discover 
new worlds for him, imitating the example of the crowned 
heads of England, Spain, and Portugal, who, during this 



26 



ACADIA 



time, had b?en adding to their possessions "by right of dis- 
covery." Disregardful of the authority of Pope Alexander 
to bestow all newly-discovered lands on Spain and Portu- 
gal, the French monarch fitted out the ship, Dolphin, with 
a crew of fifty men and provisions for eight months, and 
sent it out in command of Verazzani on the 17th of Janua- 
ry, 1524. The expedition touched at North Carolina, sailed 
northward as far as the 50fch degree of north latitude — or 
that of Newfoundland, — and gave to the country its third 
appellation — " New France." Verazzani made a subsequent 
voyage from which he never returned. Of his fate nothing 
ctrtain is known ; but there is an old French tradition to 
the effect that he landed near the present town of Cape Bre- 
ton, an the island of that name, and attempted to found a 
fortified settlement. But being suddenly attacked and 
overpowered by the Indians, himself and his entire command 
were put to death in a cruel manner. Says Bancroft — "Ve- 
razzani advanced the knowledge of the country, and gave 
to France some claim to an extensive territory on the pre- 
text of discovery." 

Previous to the expedition of Verazzani, France appears 
to have taken little national interest in the New World. — 
Hitherto every French vessel that bad visited America came 
on a commercial errand only, and the trade of that people 
in the foreign products of fish and peltries was considera- 
ble. We may except the instance of Baron de Lery, who, 
in 1518, attempted to found a settlement under French pat- 
ronage in Acadia. The Baron was a man of courage and 
lofty aspirations : with a company of colonists, and stores 
necessary to commence life in a new country, he embarked 
in the enterprise ; but unfavorable weather, and other ad- 
verse incidents, caused the project to miscarry. 

With the last expedition of Verazzani, French interest in 
America again declined. For a number of years that war- 



EATL" JfiXPL-OKATIONS 27 

harrassed people had enough to occupy their attention at 
home. At length the advisers of the French King urged 
upon him the advantages of • founding a colony in America, 
and suggested that the most appropriate place to colonize 
would be the nearest northeastern region, inasmuch as na- 
tive Basque and Norman barks had for twenty years fre- 
quented Acadian waters in quest of iish. An expedition 
was determined on, a knowledge of whicn coming to the 
Kings of Spain and Portugal, those potentates entered a 
protest against it as an encroachment on their territorial 
rights. The French King answered sarcastically, "I should 
like to see that clause in Adam's will that gives to them 
alone so vast an inherit age! " The grand admiral of Fiance 
gave command of the expedition to Jacques Cartier, of St. 
Malo, a reputed skillful mariner and hardy seaman. 

Cartier sailed from St. Malo, a seaport of Brittany, in 
the spring of 1534, with two vessels, neither of which ex- 
ceeded sixty tons burden, and whose united crews amount- 
ed to but one hundred and twenty-two men. During this 
his first voyage, Cartier made no important discoveries. 
The more salient points of the Laurentian Giuf were a .rea dy 
well known to his countrymen, who habitually fished in 
these waters ; but he was the first to carefully examine the 
"arid and desolate sea-margin of Labrador." He came up 
the Newfoundland coast, and entered the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence by the Strait of Bellisle. 

Skirting along the western coast of Newfoundland as far 
as Cape St. George, he then sailed northwest, and on the 
30th of June came in sight of the coast of Acadia. The first 
land seen by Cartier is now known as Point Escuminac. — 
Cartier thus records his impressions : "We went that day 
ashore in four places to see the goodly and sweet-smelling 
trees that were there. We found them to be cedars, ewe- 
trees, pines, white elms, ashes, willows, with many sorts of 
trees to us unknown, but without any fruit. The grounds 






•28 



ACADIA 



where no wood is are very fair and all full of peason, white 
and red gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries, and wild 
corn like unto rye, which seemeth to have been sown and 
plowed. The country is of better temperature than other 
that can be seen, and very hot. There are many thrushes, 
stock-doves, and other birds ; in short, there wanteth noth- 
ing but good harbors." 

He says of Newfoundland : " If the soil were as good as 
the harbors are it were a great commodity, but it is not to 
be called New Land, but stones and wild crags, and a place 
fit for wild beasts, for in all the North Island I did not see 
a cart load of good earth. Yet I went on shore in many 
places. In short, I believe this is the land God allotted to 
Cain." 

Cartier entered a spacious basin which he named Bay of 
Chaleurs, on account of the extreme heat at the time. — 
Landing on its coast he took formal possession of the ter- 
ritory in the name of the French King [Fran- 
cis I], setting up a cross thirty feet high and 
suspending thereon a shield bearing the 
fleur-de-lis, and an inscription, as emblematic 
of the new sovereignty of France in America. 
This typical act of incorporating che territory 
into the empire of France was ingeniously 
performed so as to appear to the natives as a 
abms or France religious ceremony. The old chief seems to 
have had his suspicions aroused that something more than 
worship was intended, and visited the ship to remonstrate 
with Cartier. He was assured that the cross was erected 
merely to serve as a landmark to guide the white visitors 
to the entrance of the harbor on their next voyage. On 
leaving the shores of the Gaspe, as this land was called by 
the Indians, Cartier carried off two sons of the chief, whom 
he decoyed on board. As the season was now far advanced, 




\\\ 



EAKLT EXPLORATIONS 29 

he determine: 1 on returning to France, and set sail in time 
%o avoid the autumnal storms which yearly visit the coast. 

The favorable report given by Cartier encouraged the 
French to further attempts; accordingly another expedition 
was fitted up and placed under his command. Conf orcning 
to the prevailing custom of the day, Cartier repaired with 
bis men in solemn procession to the cathedral of St. Malo, 
whe: e the blessing of Heaven was evoked in aid of their en- 
terprisa This religious service concluded, and the fare- 
wells spoken, for his crews were mainly composed of the 
\nds and sons of St. Malo, they repaired to the ships. 
The squadron, consisting of three vessels, having on board 
110 hands and provisions for three months, departed with a 
favoring breeze from the port of St, Malo in May. 1535. 
Gv.tier, as Captain General, hoisted his pennant on the Le 
Y hie. a vessel of little more than 100 tons bur- 
den. Several [ ersons of gentle blood accompanied the ex- 
pedition as volunteers. Unfavorable weather was soon ex- 
perienced; the passage proved tedious, and adverse winds 
separated the vessels. Cartier had provided for this emer- 
gency by appointing a rendezvous on an island between 
Labrador and Newfoundland, which they all at length 
reached safely. 

After a brief season of rest, they put to sea. Sailing 
about among the numerous islands, on St. Lawrence day 
they -entered the bay forming the embouchure of the no- 
ble river now bearing that na^e." This stream for a por- 
tion of its course at the mouth, has a wild and saddening 
asj ect The numerous rocky points obstructing its course, 
the dense f<">gs, the furious blasts that ply over its bosom, 
the eddying and whirling of the tides among the numer- 
ous islets, are well calculated to appal the spirit of the voy- 
ageur. Passing up th<~ -iver, the adventurers entered the 
deep and gloomy Saguenay,* but were prevented from ex- 






* The Saguenay is not properly a rive It is a tremendous ^ha ft m , 



30 ACADIA 

ploring it by the lateness of the season. Early in Septem 
ber they reached an island abounding in hazel bushes, to 
which in consequence they gave the name Isle aux Cou- 
dres. The river, "so vast and sombre in its lower expanse^ 
now became a graceful and silvery stream." 

Cartier began to look about him for a good harbor in 
which to p ass the winter, and decided upon one at the mouth 
of the river now known &h the St. Charles. Close at hand 
was the Huron town of Stadacona. This Indian village 
was situated on a high bluff which projected far into the 
river, and so narrowed its passage that it was forced into a 
rapid current. To this passage the Indians had given the 
name of Kepec, which name, slightly modified, has since 
been bestowed on a more pretentious modern city that has 
sprung up on the site of the Indian town, a city that has 
become illustrious in the history of the American Continent. 

" Quebec needs not the gilding of romance to invest it 
with interest. The rock upon which it stands will not be 
more enduring than the fame of the achievements that have 
been there enacted. Where stood the fragile huts of the 
simple Algonquins, there have arisen parapeted walls, bat- 



cleft for sixty miles through the heart of a mountain wilderness. Every 
thing is hard, naked, stern, silent. Dark gray cliffs rise from the pitch- 
black water; tirs of gloomy green are rooted in their crevices and fringe 
their summits; loftier ranges of a dull indigo hue show themselves in the 
background, and over all bends a pale, northern sky. The water beneath 
us was black as night, and the only life in all that savage solitude was, 
now and then, the back of a white porpoise, in some of the deeper coves. 
The river is a reproduction of the fiords of the Norwegian coast. 

(Bayard Taylor. ) 
Sunlight and clear sky are out of place over its black waters. Any- 
thing which recalls the life and smile of nature is not in unison with the 
huge, naked cliffs, raw, cold and silent as the tombs. It is with a sense 
of relief that the tourist emerges from its sullen gloom, and look back 
upon it as a kind of vault,— Nature's sarcophagus, where life or sound 
seems never to have entered. (London Times.) 



.11 



EABLT EXPLOBATIONS 31 

tlements and fortifications, — emblems of military prowess. 
For a century and a half this was the seat of the capital of 
the French Empire in America, whose authority extended 
from the stern and rocky coasts of Labrador to the delta at 
the mouth of the Mississippi. Its name has been ominous of 
bloodshed; and it has successively been the scene of tri- 
umphs which illuminated every city in the great nations of 
United States, Great Britain and France. From it bloody 
edicts went forth which gave over the border settlements 
of New England into the hands of the merciless savage, and 
his still more merciless white-coadjutor, and which shi ouded 
her villages in mourning. On this barren rock was achieved 
the famous victory which gave the vast territory of Canadaf 
to the British crown." 

Cartier still pushed on, impatient to reach Hochelaga, the 
site of the present city of Montreal. He found there an In- 
dian town of about fifty wooden dwellings, begirt with a 
triple enclosure of a circular form, and palisaded. He re- 
quested to be taken to a mountain top a mile distant ; en- 
chanted with the view from this lofty peak, he gave to the 
hill itself the name Mount Royal, — words which have since 
been modified into Montreal, and become the appellation 
of the fair city on its southern declivity. The squadron re- 
turned down the river and occupied the place selected for 
winter quarters. Scurvy broke out among the company ; 
the cold became intense, and increased day by day ; out of 
more than one hundred men composing the three vessels' 
crews, for some time not more than three or four men were 
free from disease. Too weak to open a grave for the dead 
the survivors yet able to crawl about deposited the bodies 
under the snow. At length, after twenty-five of their num- 
ber had perished, and when most of the others were appar- 






tThe natives intimated to Cartier of a collection of wigwams further 
up stream which was called Kannata, from which word the country prob- 
ably derived its name. 






32 ACADIA 

ently at death's door, a native told them of a remedy whiefo 
was resorted to with the effect of curing every ailing French- 
man within a few days. When spring returned, Cartier set 
sail for France, signalizing his leave-taking by an act ol 
treachery. Inviting, the King and three or four of the prin- 
cipal chiefs on board, he imprisoned them and carried them 
to France, The lamentations of the Indians were of no 
avail, and none of the expatriated savages ever saw their 
native soil again. 

While he was still at Quebec a number of London mer 
chants sent out two vessels on a trading voyage to the 
coast of America. They spent some time in Acadian waters,, 
but found the natives so shy that they were unable to trade 
with them. Coming short of provisions, they for a t«me 
subsisted on herbs and roots \ at last they were reduced to 
the extremity of casting lots to see who should die to afford 
sustenance for the remainder. At this critical moment a 
French vessel appeared, laden with provisions. This they 
immediately seized, and appropriating its cargo, thus pro- 
vided for their wants. France and England being then at 
peace, the Frenchmen complained of the outrage to the Eng- 
lish sovereign, Henry VIII. The King, on learning the 
great straits to which his countrymen had been reduced, 
forgave them the offense, and generously compensated the 
Frenchmen out of nis own private purse. The failure of 
Cartier to discover gold (that great desideratum), and the 
sufferings his men had undergone, together with the fo- 
ment in which he found his native country on account of 
religious dissensions, caused the project of colonizing the 
new world to be temporarily abandoned. The very exist- 
ence of Canada seems to have been ignored. • 

Not until the year 1541 was public attention again turned 
toward Acadia. The anticipated profits of the traffic in pel- 
try and the fisheries were sufficient to induce many to brave 
the dangers of the deep and the rigors of a northern winter; 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS 33 

accordingly in that year another expedition was prepared 
by King Francis, who bestowed the chief command on Ro- 
berval, making him his lieutenant and viceroy in Canada. 
Cartier was appointed Captain- General of the fleet. The 
latter without waiting for hie superior who was detained, 
set out with five ships early in the summer of 1541 ; ascend- 
ing the St. Lawrence he cast anchor ai Quebec which he 
had left five years previously. Notwithstanding his act of 
treachery toward the natives, he was allowed to remain in 
peace through the winter; but in the spring, their man- 
ner being changed, he knew they only waited an oppor- 
tunity to attack him, and he embarked his colonists to re- 
turn home. He set sail for France at the same time Rober- 
val was leaving there with three ships, with two hundred 
colonists on board. Roberval had been prevented from 
joining Cartier the year before. The two squadrons met at 
St. Johns, Newfoundland. Cartier was commanded by his 
superior to return with him to Canada: but he, having 
had enough of Canada experience, weighed anchor under 
cover of night and departed for France. Roberval proceed- 
ed to Canada, took possession of Cartier's forts, and there 
spent the winter, having first dispatched two vessels to 
France, to inform the King of his arrival, and requesting 
that provisions be sent him the next year. The scurvy 
broke out, and not having the remedy used by Cartier, fifty 
of the colonists died before spring. 

The chronicle informs us, that during the winter "one 
man was hanged for theft, several others were put in irons, 
and many were whipped, by which means they lived in qui- 
et." The next spring Roberval made an exploration into 
the interior, during which one of his vessels sunk and eight 
of his men were drowned. During the summer he return- 
ed to France with what remained of his colony. In 1549 
Roberval organized another expedition, and again set sail 
for Canada, accompanied by his brother AchiUe and a band 



34 



ACADIA 



of brave adventurers. Their fate is one of the secrets of 
the sea. Canada had reason to lament the event, for the 
loss of that expedition retarded the settlement of the coun- 
try for more than half a century. 




i 



Till 



ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 



For a period of about forty years succeeding the ill- 
starred expedition of Koberval, the colonization of Acadia 
was not attempted. This period was fully occupied by the 
various European powers in conflicts with each other, and 
in the more sanguinary domestic wars of religion. 

It must not be supposed there was no intercourse during 
this period between the old world and the new. The Nor- 
mans, the Basques, the Bretons and others, " continued to 
fish for cod, and join in the pursuit of whales that frequent- 
ed the embouchure of the St. Lawrence and the neighbor- 
ing waters." In 1578, one hundred and fifty-seven French 
vessels repaired to Newfoundland alone, in addition to the 
vessels of other nationalities. These hardy fishermen were 
continually widening the limits of navigation. Another im- 
portant branch of industry, the traffic in peltries, began to 
grow up, and proved to be nearly as profitable as the deep- 
sea fishing. Their vessels ascended the St. Lawrence, and 
dotted the picturesque rivers and bays of Acadia. But 
these expeditions were planned and executed by private en- 
terprise, and therefore possessed none of the interest and 
importance of national ventures. 

England was the first to break this period of inaction. 
She came late into the field, yet it was her province, in the 
end, to eclipse all others in tne race for territory in the new 
world. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, brother of Sir 



3*» ACADIA 

Walter Raleigh, set out to found a colony under British 
patronage, with a fleet of five vessels. Two hundred and 
sixty men accompanied the expedition, including many car- 
penters, shipwrights, masons and blacksmiths. Nothing 
seems to have been omitted that was thought necessary to 
the success of the enterprise. 

The little fleet had been but two days at sea when the 
largest vessel turned back on account of a contagious dis- 
ease which had broken out among its crew.* After a foggy 
and disagreeable passage, the remainder of the fleet reached 
Newfoundland in safety toward the close of July. The first 
sight, of this desolate coast, — a bleak stretch of lofty rock 
looming through a dense fog — was disheartening to the 
storm-tossed mariners. They soou reached the harbor of 
St. John, where they were charmed with the fresh green 
foliage, bright flowers, and an abundance of berry-bearing 
bushes. Here they found thirty-six ships of various na- 
tions, with whom they exchanged civilities. Gilbert at once 
landed and took formal possession in the name of the 
Queen, amid a salvo of ordnance from the shipping in the 
harbor. The summer was spent in examining the creeks 
Mid bays, noting the soundings, and surveying the coasts 
at great risk of destruction. Evidences of rich mineral de- 
posits were found, which contributed much to tae satisfac- 
tion of the crew. One night, toward the close of August, 
there were signs of au approaching storm. It was after- 
ward remembered, that "like the swan that singeth before 
her death, they in the Delight continued in the sounding 
of drums and trumpets and fifes, also the winding of cor* 
nets and hautboys, and in the end of their jollity, left with 
the battel], and the ringing of doleful bells." Soon after, 
the storm broke upon them. The .Delight, the largest of 
the vessels, struck and went down among the breakers off 



* Some say it was a case of desertion. 



minim 



ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION 39 

Cape Breton, in full view of the others, who were unable to 
render any help. A large store of provisions, and Gilbert's 
papers, were lost The Golden Hind and the Squirrel nar- 
rowly escaped, and were now left alone. The weather con- 
tinued boisterous : the rigors of winter had set in early ; 
provisions ran short ; and Gilbert found himself with no al- 
ternative but to abandon his explorations and return to 
England. But he spoke hopefully of future expeditions to 
Newfoundland, and did his best to cheer the drooping- spir- 
its of his men. Gilbert shifted his flag to the Squirrel, a 
mere boat of ten tons burden, against the entreaties of 
those in the other vessel. Shortly after, the sky became 
dark and threatening. The sailors declared they heard 
strange voices in the air, and beheld fearful shapes flitting 
around the ships. When in Mid- Atlantic a severe gale 
arose, and destruction appeared inevitable. The Squirrel 
labored heavily, and several times in the afternoon of the 
9 th September, was near cast away. Gilbert, sitting abaft 
with a book in his hand, as often as the Golden Hind came 
within hearing, cried out — u We are as near Heaven by sea 
as by land ! " At midnight the lights of the Squirrel went 
out: — the elements had swallowed up both her and her 
hapless crew. The Golden Hind survived the storm, and 
bore the tidings of the disastrous fate of the expedition to 
England. 

At length, France having obtained a respite from her ex- 
haustive wars, and her King [Henry IV] firmly established 
on his throne, the spirit of adventure began to revive, and 
attention was again directed to the New World. The 
strong arm of the government was no doubt called in requi- 
sition the sooner on account of difficulties between rival 
traders, who carried their animosities so far as to burn each 
other's barges or coasting vessels. The nephews of Car- 
tier, believing that they were entitled to some consideration 
on account of the services of their illustrious relative, asked 



38 ACADIA 

for a renewal of the privilege accorded to him. Letters 
patent were granted them in 1588 ; but as soon as the mer- 
chants of St. Malo were apprised of this, which amounted 
to a prohibition on all other traders, they lodged an appeal 
before the privy council, and obtained a revocation of the 
grant. This did not serve their purpose, however, for a 
third competition arose, in the person of the Marquis de La 
Roche, who obtained a royal confirmation of himself as 
"lieutenant-general," or viceroy of Canada, Acadia and the 
lands adjoining. The Marquis was authorized to impress 
any ships or any mariner in the ports of France, that he 
might think needful for his expedition: he was empowered 
to levy troops, declare war, build towns, promulgate laws 
and execute them, to concede lands with feudal privileges, 
and regulate colonial trade at discretion. No trader, there- 
fore, dare set up against this monopoly. 

La Roche set sail in that year taking with him forty- 
eight convicts from the French prisons. Fearing that his 
people might desert him, he landed them on Sable Island, 
a barren sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles to the 
south and east of Nova Scotia, while he went to find a suit- 
able place for a settlement. He visited Acadia and was re- 
turning for his colonists when he was caught in a tempest, 
and was driven before it, in ten or twelve days' time, to the 
French coast. Scarcely had he set his foot in France when 
he was thrown into prison, and not until five years after- 
ward was he able to apprise the King of the result of his 
voyage. King Henry, compassionating the condition of the 
unfortunates on Sable Island, dispatched the pilot of La 
Roche to learn their fate. That island which is of crescent- 
like configuration, arid and of rude aspect, bears no trees 
nor fruit; its only vegetation is sea-matweed, growing 
around a lake in the centre, and in places along the shore. 
When the pilot arrived he found their condition truly de- 
plorable. Of the whole band, forty-eight in number, only 



ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION 39 

cwelve remained. Left to their own discretion they became 
utterly lawless ; evil passions being in the ascendant, each 
man's hand was turned against his neighbor, and many were 
horribly murdered. Ill-supplied bodily wants will tame the 
fiercest passions ; and the surviving few had latterly led a 
more tranquil life. A vessel had been wrecked on the 
breakers abounding on the shores of the desolate isle ; of 
tjae wood that had driven ashore they had constructed huts. 
Their food had consisted chiefly of the flesh of a few do- 
mestic animals which they had found on the island, of a 
species that had probably been left there by Baron de Lery 
more than eighty years before. Their clothing was com- 
posed of the skins of seals they had captured. The King 
desired to have them presented before him accoutred just 
as they had been found. Their hair and beard was in wild 
disorder, and their countenances had assumed an expres- 
sion unlike that ef civilized man. The King so commis- 
erated their condition that he gave each fifty crowns, and 
promised oblivion to all the evil deeds they had committed 
aforetime. La Boche, who had embarked his whole fortune* 
in the enterprise, lost the whole of it iu succeeding inisfor-* 
tunes through its instrumentality, and died of a broken 
heaiU 



PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 



"We are now arrived at a period we may designate as the 
permanent colonization of Acadia. Settlements had been 
established in Florida for nearly a quarter of a century, and 
blood had already been shed for possession of that territo- 
ry ; Holland had founded the New Netherlands ; England 
had established a foothold iu Jamestown ; France had di- 
rected her attention toward Canada and Acadia: in a 
word, it seemed that every nation in Europe was ready 
to cross swords with her neighbor over the division of ter- 
ritory in America. 

Pont- Grave, a rich merchant of St. Malo, formed a plan 
of securing a monopoly of the fur trade in Acadia. His first 
step was to obtain a royal grant of all the powers and priv- 
ileges of La Roche ; the next, to cause a trading society to 
be formed of the leading merchants of Rouen. Under their 
patronage an expedition was fitted out and sent to America 
in command of Samuel Champlain. With three barks of 
twelve to fifteen tons burden, that navigator set sail in 1603, 
and safely arrived in Acadian waters. The King was so 
well pleased with the account Champlain gave of the voy- 
age on his return that he promised royal aid. 

Another expedition was determined on, and four ships 
were manned and victualled for the enterprise. The chief 
command was given to De Monts, a placeman at the French 
court, and distinguished as ever zealous for the honor of 
his country. Both Huguenots and Catholics were to ac- 



,ii una 



PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 41 

: company the ships, the former being allowed full freedom 
in their religious worship, but were to take no part in na- 
tive proselyting, — the privilege of converting the heathen 
being exclusively reserved to the Catholic priests. Two of 
the vessels were to commence the traffic for the company at 
Tadousac, thence to range the whole seaboard of New 
France, and seize all vessels trading in violation of the roy- 
al prohibition. The two remaining vessels, having on board 
a few emigrants, were to seek some favorable locality and 
form a settlement. 

De Monts sailed from Havre-de-Grace in March, 1604, 
and stood for Acadia, which he preferred to Canada on ac- 
count of its milder climate, the variety of its sea-fish, the 
abundance of harbors accessible at all times of the year, 
and the friendly character of the natives. De Monts came 
upon the coast near La Heve, now Halifax. In the first 
harbor he entered he seized and confiscated a vessel which 
he found violating his monopoly, perpetuating the memory 
of the event by naming the port after the master of the cap- 
tured vessel — Port Kossignol. Cruising westward, he en- 
tered another harbor which he named Port Mouton in hon- 
or of another victim — that of an unfortunate sheep which 
fell overboard. De Monts, becoming alarmed at the delay 
of the vessel that was to bring out provisions for the win- 
ter, sent out exploring parties along the coast ; the ship 
was happily discovered near Canso, and her stores brought 
to him by aid of the Indians ; he then ordered her captain 
to proceed to Tadousac in aid of the colony there. 

De Monts continued to coast to the westward around Cape 
Salle, and entered the Bay of Fundy* which he called, <k la 
Baie Frangaise." He next entered St. Mary's Bay; finding 
it a pleasant country, he advanced and sent out exploring 
parties. On board ship was a priest named Aubrey, who 

Toad de la Baie on old French maps. 

c* 



4-2 ACADIA 

went on shore with the company as was his custom. When 
about to return to the ship, he could not be found; they 
fired guns to attract his attention, but were forced to return 
without him. Cannons were fired from the vessel to guide 
him in case he were near, and fcr four days they searched 
the woods without avail. Then a suspicion was aroused in 
the minds of the friends of the missing man, that something 
was wrong. One of the party in company with Aubrey was 
a Protestant, and their voices had been heard in high dis- 
pute on religious matters while in the woods, and it was 
feared violence had been done him. To the credit of the 
company be it said, no action was taken against the suspect- 
ed party, and with sad hearts they sailed out of St. Mary's 
Bay. Skirting along the coast they discovered a narrow 
channel leading into a capacious basin, around which were 
modest slopes cleft with deep water-courses, and bordered 
with verdant meadows. This was Annapolis Basin. The spa- 
ciousness and security of the harbor caused them to name 
it Port Royal. A large stream flowed into the basin from 
the eastward, up which they sailed fifteen leagues, as far as 
the boats would go, and named it River de i'Esquille, from 
a fish of that name with which it abounded. 

M. de Poutrincourt, a gentleman of Picardies who accom- 
panied the expedition, was so well pleased with the beauty 
of Port Royal and its surroundings, that he obtained a 
grant of it from De Monts, which grant was afterward con- 
firmed by the King. 

Leaving Port Royal, they pursued their way further to 
the east. Soon coming in sight of Cape Chignecto, they 
called it the "Cape of Two Bays," because it separated 
Chignecto Bay from the Basin of Minas, To the lofty 
island which lies off the cape they gave thti name of Island 
Haiti, on account of its great elevation. They landed on 
its solitary beach, which to this day is seldom profaned by 
the foot of man, and climbed to its summit, where iixvy 



PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 43 

found a spring of water. They next sailed eastward until 
they discovered the river by which the Indians reached the 
Basin of Minas from Tracadie, Miramichi, and other parts 
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Champlain seems unfavora- 
bly impressed with the forbidding aspect of the rock-bound 
coasts. 

Crossing the Lay of Ghignecto, the voyageurs came to a 
spacious bay with three islands and a rock, two bearing a 
league to the eastward, the other at the mouth of a river, 
the largest and deepest they had yet seen. This they named 
the River St. John, on account of the day it was discovered. 
By the Indians it was called Ouangondy, signifying a high- 
way. Champlain, the historian of the expedition, describes 
the River St. John that the falls being passed, the river en- 
larged to a league in certain places, and that there were 
three islands, near which there were a great quantity of 
meadows and handsome woods, such as oaks, beeches, but- 
ternuts, and vines of wild grapes. The inhabitants went 
to Tadousac, on the great River St. Lawrence, and had to 
pass but little land to reach the place. 

Leaving the St. John, they sailed to the west and came 
in sight of four islands now called "The Wolves," but which 
he named Isles au Margos, from the great number of birds 
he found on them. He presently found nimself sailing 
among islands, many of them very beautiful, and contain- 
ing numerous harbors, situated in a cut de sac; the waters 
abounded in fish. 

The season being far spent, De Monts fixed upon an island 
at the mouth of the St. Croix River as the most suitable 
place to commence a settlement. He immediately began 
the erection of suitable buildings, in the meantime dispatch- 
ing one of his vessels to St. Marys Bay to examine some 
ores. The attention of the sailors was attracted one day to 
the signal of a white handkerchief attached to a stick and 
waved by a person on shore; immediately landing they 



4 t ACADIA 

were overjoyed on finding the missing Aubrey, who bad 
been absent seventeen days, subsisting on berries and roots. 
He had strayed from his companions, and being unable to 
retrace his steps, he wandered he knew not whither. 

De Monts built his fort at the end of the Island ; outside 
of this were the barracks. Within the fort was the resi- 
dence of De Monts fitted up with " fair carpentry work ;" 
close at hand were the dwellings of his officers. A covered 
gallery, for exercise during bad weather, a storehouse, a 
large brick oven, and a chapel, completed the structures for 
the use of the colony. "Nearly two hundred years after- 
ward, tie stone fornications of these buildings were brought 
to light. Five distinct piles of ruins were discovered on 
the north end of the island, and the manner in which the 
work had been done showed the builders intended the fort 
should be a permanent one.'** 

While the colonists were thus occupied, Poutrincourt took 
his departure for France : he went for the purpose of re- 
moving his family to the home he had chosen at Port Roy- 
al, and to bear a message to the King that his subjects had 
at last founded a colony in Acadia. 

Scarcely had they completed then- labors before the rig- 
ors of winter burst upon them in all their fury. The colo- 
nists were appalled at th^ depth of the snows, and the fury 
of the blasts; the river became a black and chilly tide, and 
the cold was more severe than they had ever before experi- 
enced. De Monts had not chosen the position wisely, there 
being no wood near. Before spring thirty-six of his people 
died of scurvy, f 

*Hannpy. 

tCharnplain describes this disease as follows: — During the -winter a 
certain disease broke out among many of our people, called ihe disease 
of the country, otherwise the scurvy, as I have since heard learned men 
say. It originated in the mouth of those who have a large amount oi 
dabby and superfluous flesh, (causing a bad putrefaction,) which increas- 



PEBMAOTNT SETTLEMENT 45 

On the Teturn of spring, De Monts armed his pinnace, 
and taking the remnant of colonists on board, hastened to 
quit the island. They sailed southward as far as Cape Cod; 
not finding a more eligible place for settlement, they turned 
helm and steered for Acadian waters, where they met with 
an expedition just arrived from France, with fresh supplies 
and forty emigrants for the colony. This accession stimu- 
lated their drooping spirits, and they at once set out for 
Port Royal, On their way they stopped at the solitary 
island which had been the scene of so much suffering, and 
where so many of their companions lay buried. Before 
leaving, some of the colonists sowed grain on the island: 
on visiting the place years later, they found and reaped a 
heavy crop of rye, " A solitary lighthouse now warns the 
mariner to avoid its bleak and inhospitable shores." 

The site chosen for settlement at Port Royal was oppo- 
site Goat Island, on the Granville side of the basin, about 
six miles from the present town of Annapolis. The position 
was admirably adapted to the purpose. The ground gent- 
ly sloped from the bauk; the long line of hills in the rear 
warded off the bleak north winds ; timber of the best qual- 
ity was abundant ; the fisheries were close at hand ; there 



es to such an extent that tbey can scarcely take anything, unless it is al- 
most liquid. The teeth become quite loose, and they can be extracted by 
the lingers without causing any pain. The superfluity of this flesh re- 
quires to be cut away, and this causes a violent bleeding from the mouth. 
They are afterward seized with great pain in the legs and arms, which 
swell up and become very hard, all marked as if bitten by fleas, and they 
are unable to walk from contraction of the nerves, so that they have no 
strength left, and suffer the most intolerable pain. They have also pains 
in the loins, the stomach and intestines, a very bad cough, and shortness 
of breath; in short, they are in such a state that the greater part of those 
seized with the complaint can neither raise nor move themselves, and if 
they attempt to stand erect they fall down senseless, so that of seventy- 
nine of us, thirty-five died, and more than twenty barely escaped death. 



46 ACADia 

were marsh lands of inexhaustible richness ; the climate' 
here was milder than in most of the peninsula ; — in short, 
nothing was wanting that Nature could bestow to render 
the location desirable. 

The colonists once more set to work. Dwellings were 
erected, storehouses built, and a small palisaded fort was 
constructed, as a means of defense against an enemy. And 
here the first water-mill was put up, an expedient that 
saved the colonists a great amount of the severest labor. 

As soon as this work was fairly inaugurated, De Monts 
departed for France to provide for the provisioning of the 
new settlement, leaving Pontgrave in command during his 
absence. He left them under very auspicious circumstances 
and anticipated a speedy return with the needed stores. — 
The natives were pacific through the winter, and provided 
the colonists with an abundance of fresh meat, and. opened 
a brisk trade with them in peltries. The settlers were free 
from epidemic during the whole ssason. 

On return of spring [1606] Pontgrave, not yet satisfied, 
resolved to find a warmer climate for his colony. He fitted 
out a barque and set sail for Cape Cod. Twice was he driv- 
en back to Port Royal by stress of weather; at the last at- 
tempt the little vessel was injured at the mouth of the har- 
bor, and permanently disabled. Pontgrave set to work to 
build another ; in the meantime the season waned, and De 
Monts did not arrive from France. On the 25th of July,. 
Pontgrave left Port Royal in his new vessel, leaving two 
men in charge of the stores, and, with the hope of falling in 
with some fishing vessel, coasted along as far as Canso, 
sailing through the Petite Passage, between Long Island 
and the Main. At this time De Monts was hastening to the 
aid of Port Royal in the Jonas, and happening to pass out- 
side of Long Island, the vessels missed each other. De 
Monts had been detained in France by some unforeseen cir- 
cumstance, but finally succeeded in setting- out with a fresh 



PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 47 

supply of provisions and men, Poutrincourt accompanying 
him. Pontgrave fell in with a shallop left on the Can so 
coast by De Monts, and received information that the Jo- 
nas had arrived. He retraced his course with all haste, 
and on the 31st of July, rejoined his companions at Port 
Royal. In honor of the event Poutrincourt opened a hogs- 
head of wine, and the night was spent in Bacchanalian rev- 
elry. 

Although the season was far advanced, they sowed vege- 
tables and grain. Most of the colonists would have been 
c< ntent to remain, but De Monts wanted to make another 
effoit further south. Accordingly Poutrincourt set sail on 
the 28th of August in search of another location in which 
to fix their settlement. On the same day the Jonas put to 
sea with De Monts and Pontgrave. who were to return to 
France. Poutrincourtfs voyage began with difficulties, and 
ended in disaster. After being twice turned back by storms, 
he coasted as far as Cape Cod : here his vessel was damaged 
among the shoals. Some of his men who went ashore, ca-ne 
in collision with the natives, who here appeared to be of a 
savage, warlike disposition, Poutrincourt ordered his men 
on board; but five of them who neglected to obey, were sur- 
prised, two killed outright and others wounded — two mor- 
tally. A party were sent on shore, and the slain were buried, 
and a cross erected over their graves. The Indians soon 
appeared, tore down the cross and dug up the bodies. Pou- 
trincourt replaced the cross and bodies, and bore away for 
Port Royal, where they arrived on the 14th of November. 

The following winter was spent in comfort and cheerful- 
ness. They made an arrangement, for each colonist to be- 
come steward and caterer for the day in his turn ; it became 
a point of honor with each one, as his day of providing came, 
to have the table well served with game, which he procured 
from the forest or else purchased of the Indians. In conse- 
quence they fared sumptuously all winter. Painful to re- 



.1111 I'M I 1 1 



FKF.MAHE3T SETTLEMENT* 49 

way of cheering their Indian friends on to victory. The 
Prince of the western tribes was defeated ; a civil war broke 
out among his now divided people ; pestilence followed ; 
some tribes were exterminated and others were greatly re- 
duced : such was the tragic end of this great savage war, 
and Memberton returned triumpl ant to Port Royal before 
the colonists iei'i. 

The grain having ripened, Poutrincourt set sail on the 
11th of August. He left Memberton ten hogsheads of meal 
and all the standing grain, enjoining the Indians to sow 
more in the spring. The natives appeared sincerely grieved 
at the departure of the colonists, manifesting the intensity 
of their feelings even to tears. 

Poutrincourt promptly waited on the French Monarch, 
showing him specimens of wheat, barley and oats grown in 
Acadia : also five living wild geese hatched near Port Eoyal. 
The King was much pleased with the specimens, and urged 
Poutrincourt to continue the settlement. He ratified the 
grant of Port Royal made him by De Monts, and desired 
him to procure the services of the Jesuits in converting the 
Indians, and offered two thousand livres for their support. 
Two years subsequent, Champdore visited Port Roya., and 
found the grain growing finely and the buildings aiiin good 
order ; he was received by Memberton and his people with 
demonstrations of welcome. 

Poutrincourt was detained in France much longer than 
he anticipated : he did not visit Port Royal until June, 1610. 
This time he brought with him a Catholic priest named 
Josse Flesche, who prosecuted the work of converting the 
Indians. At Port Royal twenty-five were baptized — iiem- 
berton being one of the number. This great Sachem was 
so full of zeal that he offered to make war on all who should 
reiuse to become Christians: this savored too much of the 
Mohammedan system of conversion, and was declined. — 
Poutrincourt, who was somewhat of a connoisseur m music, 



53 r AOA-PTA 

composed times for the hymns and chants used by the In- 
dian converts in the ceremonies of the church. A band of 
novel worshipers they were, celebrating in their rude church 
file solemn rites, with manners yet untamed. 

Poutrincourt had sent his son to France for supplies ear- 
ly in July, and also to carry the news of the conversion of 
the natives, with instructions to return in four months. 
Winter having set in, and the expected succor not arriving, 
the colonists became seriously alarmed; but their experience 
in Acadian life enabled them to depend on their own exertions 
for supplies sufficient to ward off starvation. Biencourt 
had presented himself at the French court, and was desired 
by the Queen to take two Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Bi- 
ard and Masse, with him on his return, the ladies of the 
court providing liberally for the voyage. Biencourt's ves- 
sel was to sail from Dieppe -in October, but some Hugue- 
not traders who had an interest with Biencourt refused to 
allow any Jesuits to go in the vessel. To this he was 
obliged to submit : Madame de Guercheville, a lady of the 
court, collected money sufficient to buy out the traders, and 
the missionaries were allowed to embark. 

Biencourt, with a company of thirty-six persons, and a 
small craft of but sixty tons burden, essayed a winter voy- 
age across the stormy Atlantic. They sailed in January, 
1611, but were soon forced to take shelter in an English 
harbor. The voyage lasted four months : at one time they 
were in great danger from icebergs ; they reached Port Roy- 
al late in May. 

Much of the stores that were to supply the colony had 
been exhausted on the voyage, and they were forced to seek 
provisions elsewhere. A temporary supply having been ob- 
tained of some fishing vessels at the Island of Grand Me- 
nan, Poutrincourt set sail for France, leaving Port Royal 
in command of his son. The coiony consisted of twenty* 
two persons, including the Jesuit Missionaries. Father 



PEBMA3JEST SETTLEMil^ T 51 

Masse took up his abode in the Micrnac village at the 
mouth of the St. John; Father Biard united himself with 
Indians at Port Royal, accompanying Bieneourt on his oc- 
casional trips to points along the Bay of Funiy. 

About this time, the chief, Memberton. being near his 
enb a disr. a:e aiose between the Jesuit priests and Bien- 
court as to his place :i burial- Bieneourt wanted him to 
be buried among his own people, agreeably to a promise he 
La."; :-_a:1r :_t ;baaa :hie:: :be Jesuits insisted ue should be 
buried in consecrated ground. Bieneourt curtly told them 
rb ey might consecrate the Tndian burial ground, but be 
should see that Memberton's re: ub carried out. The 

old chief consented :: be buried with the Christians, and 
Lc was accordingly m. erred m tbe burial ground it Port 
aL 

Meanwhile the colonists were getting short of provis- 
but late in January [1612] & vessel arri b sup- 

plies, sent out by an aiTangement Poutrincourt had made 
with Madame de Guercheviile. who had exerted herself 
strenuously to promote the mission of the Jesm 
la. by was likely bo become au aby :ba: would rain Le bas 
own master ; it being her ambitic o id form a spiritual des- 
potism in Acadia, in which the Jesuits were to be the rul- 
ers, and herself the patronesa. All of Acadia except Port 
d belonged to De Monts : having obtained a release of 
his rights, and a grant from the King for herself, sb 
pended on Poutrincourt's necessities to force him to relin- 
quish his portion. The latter did not return to Port Roy- 
fb. ' a: —u: vessel in charge oi Simon Iruber:. a se.-aut 
in whom he had entire confidence. Madame de Guerche- 
Tille sent another Jesuit named Du Thet, in the guise of a 
passenger, but really as a spy in her interest. Soon after 

:be rriest* 
and the colonists. It is said that Bieneourt was actually 
ea .—i_au.citcd Ly the Jesuit jriBBta; he .uolay informed 



52 ACADIA 

them, that however high their spiritual authority might be, 
he was their ruler on earth, and that he would be obeyed 
by all in the colony, even to the point of compelling obedi- 
ence with the lash. Biard and Masse, who appeared sin- 
cerely desirous of converting the savages, were suffered to 
remain in the colony; bat Du Thet, whom Biencourt sus- 
pected of not coming out as a missionary, and who was all 
the while creating dissensions, was sent back to France. — • 
Thus was Port Boyal once more brought to a tranquil 
state.* 

Biencourt now set to work to prevent the influence of the 
Jesuits from becoming predominant in the colony : this de- 
termined the Lady de Guercheville to establish there a col- 
ony of her own. At Honfleur she fitted out a vessel of one 
hundred tons burden, and gave the command to M. de La 
Saussaye, with forty-eight persons and provisions for one 
year, — the Jesuit Fathers Du Thet and Quantin accompany- 
ing the expedition. The vessel- was better provided with 
stores and implements than any previously sent to Acadia ; 
carrying horses, goats for milk, tents and munitions of war. 
She wrote a letter commanding that Fathers Biard and 
Masse be allowed to leave Port Boyal. 

The vessel sailed in March, 1613, reaching Cape La Heve 
in May, where they held high mass, and erected a cross 
with the arms of Marchioness de Guercheville as a symbol 
that they held possession of the country for her. They 
next visited Port Koyal ; taking Fathers Biard and Masse 
on board, they stood for Pentagoet. When off Grand Me- 
nan, a thick fog arose which lasted ten days: hen they 
put into a harbor on the east side of Desert Island. This 
they chose as a site for a settlement, naming the town St. 
Sauveur. All were speedily engaged in clearing ground. 
La Saussaye was advised by the principal colonists to build 

*Hannay, 



PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 53 

a sufficient fortification before proceeding to cultivate the 
soil : he merely raised a small palisaded structure, and was 
perforce little prepared to meet the storm that was about 
to fall upon the unsuspecting little colony, 

A fleet of vessels from Virginia, convoyed by an armed 
vessel under* command of Captain Samuel Argall, came into 
Acadian waters for fish. Learning there was a French set- 
tlement in Mount Desert Harbor, with a vessel, he resolved 
to attack. Ail the French were ashore except ten men who 
did not understand the working of the ship. At the second 
discharge of Argall's musketry, Du Thet fell back mortally 
wounded^ four others were seriously injured, and two men 
jumped overboard and were drowned. Argall proceeded 
to the new settlement on the shore, and informed them they 
were on English territory, and that they mast remove. He 
said to La Saussaye if he could prove he was acting under 
commission from the Crown of France, he would treat them 
tenderly. La Saussaye could not show his commission, as 
it was among the papers which Argall had abstracted from 
the ship's chest while plundering the captured vessel. Ar- 
gall now assumed a very haughty tone, — called them a set 
of freebooters and pirates — and to show his authority, car- 
ried away fifteen of the colony in chains to Virginia, mag-( 
nanimously allowing the remainder to take a shallop and go 
in search of some French fishing vessel in which to return 
to France. 

Argall arrived in Virginia, with his bound French cap- 
tives. His perfidious theft of La Saussaye's commission 
was likely to cause his prisoners to be executed as pirates ; 
to save them he produced the filched document: but this*, 
while it saved the lives of one set of Frenchmen, ruined the 
rest of Acadia. Argall was furnished with two armed ves- 
sels, and set sail on a mission to destroy all the French set- 
tlements in Acadia. He was accompanied by Fathers Biard 
and Quantin. Argall first visited St. Sauveur, where he de» 



54 ACADIA 

stroyed the cross the Jesuits had set up T and erected anoth- 
er in its place with the name of the British King on it j then? 
firing the buildings he sailed for St, Croix Island^ where he 
destroyed a quantity of salt stored there by fishermen. He 
then crossed to Port Royal, piloted, it is said, by an Indian ? 
but some suspected, and it was generally believed, that Fa- 
ther Biard did this favor. 

Arrived at Port Royal, the fort was found to be without an 
occupant — all the people were at work in the fields, five 
miles distant. The first intimation the poor Frenchmen had 
of the presence of strangers, was the smoke of their burn- 
ing dwellings. Argall proceeded to destroy the fort, to- 
gether with a great quantity of goods stored within it, and 
even effaced with a pick, the arms of France and the names 
of De Monts and other Acadian pioneer s r engraved on a 
stone in the interior. He is said to have spared the mills 
and barns up the river, only because he did not know they 
were there. The piratical Argall, having completed the de- 
struction of the colony, departed for Virginia, having, by 
the act, rendered his name notorious in American annals. 
The despoiled inhabitants quitted the place, some taking 
refuge in the woods around with the Indians, and others 
emigrating to a distant settlement on the river St. Lawrence- 
History says, that while the destruction was going on, 
Biencourt made his appearance, and requested a conference. 
The parties met in a meadow ; Biard endeavored to persuade 
the colonists to abandon the country and take shelter with 
the invaders. The advice was received badly. Biencourt 
proposed a division ^f the trade of thecountry ; Argall would 
not accede to this — his mission was to dispossess the French, 
and nothing short of that would suffice. When Argall left 
Port Royal, that settlement, on which more than 100,000 
crowns had been expended, lay in ashes; — a place more 
desolate than the most dreary desert could have been. No 
more wanton destruction could be imagined, perpetrated in, 



tfERKIANENT SETTLEMENT 55 

a time of peace, — the only claim that England could lay to 
the territory being-, that the Cabots, more than a century 
■before, had touched somewhere upon these shores while 
■sailing under British authority. No remonstrance ever came 
from France for this piratical outrage-— that power evident- 
ly preferring to recognize the colony in the light of a pri- 
vate venture, and not giving the affair the importance of a 
national issue, 

Poutrincourt, who attributed all his misfortunes to the 
Jesuits, took no further part in the affairs of Acadia ; he was 
killed soon after the events just related, in the military ser- 
vice of the King, 

Biencourt never returned to France, but maintained him- 
self and a few faithful companions the rest of his life in 
Acadia; sometimes living with the savages, and at other 
times residing near Port Royal, Of his adventurous life 
in the remote Acadian wilds, but little has come down to us 
in history. Doubtless were it written, it would rival the 
most romantic production of fiction. 



THE LA T0T7R& 



Although the destruction of Port Royal by Argall was 
complete, it does not appear that many of the inhabitants 
returned to France, In 1619, two French trading compa- 
nies were formed ; one to carry on a shore fishery with a 
rendezvous at Miscou on the Gulf of St. Lawrence,, and the 
other a trade in furs with a depot at the mouth of the Riv- 
er St. John. To provide for the religious wants of the ad- 
venturers, three Ptecollet missionaries were sent; through 
their instrumentality many of the natives were induced to 
embrace the Christian religion. During all this time the 
English continued to assert their right to Acadia by reason 
of the discovery by the Cabots a century before, and were 
fain to consider the French as interlopers. 

At the court of King James was a Scottish gentleman,, 
Sir William Alexander, standing high in royal favor, to 
whom was granted in September, 1621, a piece of territory 
including the whole of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and 
the Gaspe peninsula, to be held at a quit-rent of one penny 
Scots per year, to be paid on the soil of Nova Scotia on the 
festival of the Nativity of Christ, if demanded. The pro- 
prietor was endowed with enormous powers for the gov- 
ernment of his territory, the creation of titles and officers, 
and the maintenance of fortifications and fleets. 

In pursuance of his broad plans, in 1622 Alexander fitted 
Qut a vessel, and sent it to his new dominions. It was late 



THE LA TOURS 57 

in the season when it reached Newfoundland, where the win- 
ter was spent. The following spring the expedition sailed 
to Cape Sable, where some time was occupied on the coast ; 
finding the French in full possession, it returned to Scot- 
land. 

In 1625, Alexander obtained a confirmation of his title to 
Acadia ; and to expedite its settlement, an order of Baronets 
was created. This, it was thought, would promote emigra- 
tion by the introduction of the English custom of landed es- 
tates into the new territory : probably that result would have 
been accomplished, had the plan been vigorously carried out. 

While this effort at the colonization of Acadia by English 
subjects was going on, Cardinal Richelieu formed a strong 
company to accomplish a similar purpose under French 
patronage, to which was given the title of the Compa- 
ny of New France. By the terms of the charter, Kichelieu 
was bound to settle 200 persons the first year, and at the 
end of fifteen years the number to be augmented to 4000 — 
every settler to be of French birth, and a Catholic. The 
French monarch gave the company two vessels of war, with 
arms and munitions : the wealth and standing of the members 
of the company seemed to insure success. Twelve of the 
settlers received patents of Nobility ; the company were 
granted free entry into France of everything produced in 
Acadia, — thus having a monopoly of the fur trade, hunt- 
ing and shore fishery; and were clothed with the power of 
declaring peace or war. Thus were two powerful compa- 
nies fitted out by two European nations, who were destined 
to prey upon each other in the Acadian land. War between 
England and France having broken out, this circumstance 
was highly favorable to the strife of the colonists. 

It is at this period of Acadian history that the name of 
La Tour comes into notice — a name associated with stirring 
and romantic incident, and occupying a prominent place in 
the annals of the country. Claude La Tour, the elder, was 



58 ACADIA 

a French Huguenot, who had lost the greater part of his 
estate in the civil war. He was what might be termed a 
broken down nobleman; and not having means to preserve 
the style of living to which his family had been accustomed, 
his attention was diverted to the new world. He came to 
Acadia in 1609, accompanied by his son Charles, who was 
then twelve years old. He was engaged in trading when 
the settlement at Port Royal was broken up by Argall : he 
was afterward dispossessed, by the Plymouth Colony, of a 
fort which he had erected at the mouth of the Pembocet. 

Charles La Tour, the son, allied himself to Biencourt, 
and was made his Lieutenant ; and in 1623, when he was 
twenty-six years old, he was bequeathed Biencourt's rights 
at Port Boyal, and thus became his successor. He married 
a Huguenot lady, who afterward became the most remark- 
able character in Acadian history. Charles had removed 
from Port Royal soon after his marriage, and had built a 
fort at what is now Port La Tour, near Cape Sable. His 
quick perception showed him that, in the war that had brok- 
en out, the French were in danger of losing their title to 
the territory; to provide against such an occurrence, his 
father sailed for France to obtain arms and ammunition. 
On the voyage back with the supplies, several of the vessels 
were captured by a British squadron in command of Sir 
David Kirk, and Claude La Tour was sent to England as a 
prisoner of war. Kirk took possession of Port Royal, left 
a few men in charge of the works, and gave orders to pre- 
pare for the reception of a colony in the spring. Out of 
the fleet coming to the aid of Charles La Tour, eighteen ves- 
sels were captured, together with one hundred and thirty- 
five pieces of ordnance, and a vast quantity of ammunition- 
When tidings reached him of the disaster to the fleet, he 
summoned ail the French in Acadia into his fort. 

In the meantime the elder La Tour, being designedly 
treated with especial favor at the English court which held 



THE LA TOURS 59 

him prisoner, and, moreover, forgetful of Lady La Tour, 
who lay sleeping in her lowly grave at Kochelle, became en- 
amored of a Protestant lady, whom he married, and so fell 
away from his allegiance to his native country. He became 
interested in Sir "William Alexander, and was created a Bar- 
onet of Nova Scotia, — his son Charles receiving the same 
honor. The two La Tours were granted a tract of territo- 
ry from Yarmouth to Lunenburg, fifteen leagues inland 
toward the north, the land to be held under the Crown of 
Scotland. They were invested with power of building forts 
and towns, together with the rights of Admiralty over the 
whole coast. For this munificent gift the elder La Tour 
undertook to plant a colony of Scotch in Acadia, and also 
to obtain possession of his son's fort at St. Louis for the 
King of Great Britain. 

He accordingly set sail in 1630, with two vessels well pro- 
vided, and landing at Fort La Tour, waited on his son. 
Notwithstanding all the persuasions the father could offer, 
with promises of wealth and the favor of the Crown of Great 
Britain, the son could not be seduced from his allegiance to 
France, and boldly declared himself incapable of betraying 
the confidence reposed in him. Overwhelmed with morti- 
fication, the elder La Tour retired on board ship, where he 
addressed him a letter setting forth the advantages that 
would accrue to both ; he next attempted to intimidate by 
menaces, in all of which he was disregarded: driven to des- 
peration, he disembarked soldiers and a number of seamen, 
and attempted to carry the fort by assault. His attack 
was received by the son with spirit, and he was driven back 
with loss ; the next day he directed another assault, with 
no better success. La Tour urged a third attempt but in 
this his intention was thwarted by the commanding officer, 
who would not permit any more men to be sacrificed. 

Claude La Tour was now in a bad plight. He was a trait- 
or to his country ; he had broken his promise to the English ; 



60 



ACADIA 



he had nowhere to turn for comfort or succor. He told his 
wife he had counted on introducing her to a life of luxury 
and ease in Acadia, but found himself instead, reduced to 
beggary, and offered to release her and allow her to return 
to her family; she refused to desert him at his misfortune, 
perf erring to share with him his trials and troubles. He 
finally took up his abode at Port Royal, where a colony .com- 
posed chiefly of natives of Scot" and had been established 
by a son of Sir William Alexander, who had built a fort 
on the Granville shore opposite Goat Island, on the site of 
the French works destroyed by Argall. Little is known of 
the colony, and that little is a record of misfortunes. Thirty 
out of seventy colonists died the first winter : the arrival of 
La Tour's ves r - : '-3s revived their drooping spirits. 

Quebec having been captured by the English forces, the 
French determined to regain that stronghold, and also to 
strengthen the defenses of what possessions still remained 
to them in America. Two vessels were fitted out with sup- 
plies, arms, and ammunition, and arrived safely after along 
and stormy passage. Captain Marot, who had command of 
the expedition, brought tne younger La Tour a letter from 
his patrons, enjoining him to remain steadfast in the King's 
cause, and expressing the confidence of the company in his 
patriotism ; also informing him that the vessels with the 
arms and ammunition were at his service. Charles La Tour 
induced his father to come from Port Royal and live near 
him, — building a house for his accommodation near the 
walls of the fort. The older La Tour brought information 
that the Port Royal colonists intended to make an attack on 
Fort La Tour. This information led to the evacuation of 
that fortress and the building of another strong fort at the 
mouth of the St. John, which would serve the double pur- 
pose of repelling the attacks of the English in that direc- 
tion, and command the peltry trade of the Indians of the 
vast wilderness extending to the River St. Lawrence. Arti- 



THE LA TOUBS 61 

Seers were promptly conveyed to the spot and the work com- 
menced $ but the summer was so far advanced that little 
could be accomplished that season, 

By treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, in March 1632, Acadia 
was formally restored to France, the intention being that 
the Scotch fort at Port Eoyal should be destroyed. This 
measure led to considerable trouble in Acadia, and was the 
fruitful cause of mucn bloodshed. 

Agreeably to the treaty, France proceeded to resume pos- 
session of those portions of her Acadian provinces that had 
been seized by the English, The company of New France, 
strong in numbers and influence, were to spare neither 
money nor pains ; an expedition was fitted out, and Isaac 
de Razilly was selected as commander. He was to receive 
* vessel, the E Esptrance en Dieu, free and in sailing order, 
-u-med with .guns and swivels, powder and shot, and ten 
thousand livres in money, in consideration of which he en- 
gaged to put the company of New France in possession o! 
Port Royal without further charges. He agreed, also, to fit 
out an armed pinnace of not less that 100 tons burden, to 
carry out the Capuchin friars, and sueh a number of meni 
as the company should judge to be proper. He received a 
commission of the King authorizing him to cause the Scotch 
end other subjects of Great Britain to withdraw from 
Quebec, Port Eoyal, and Cape Breton. He held letters 
patent from the King of Great Britain for the restitution of 
Port Royal to the French, and an order from King Charles 
to his subjects in Port Royal for the abandonment of tho 
place : also a letter from Sir William Alexander to the com- 
man dant at Port Royal to the same effect. Razilly took out; 
with him a number of peasants and artizans : also Charnisey, 
» life-long enemy to Charles La Tour, and Nicolas Denys, 
who afterward became the historian of Acadia. 

Port Royal was promptly surrendered by the Scotch Comr 
maiider. Most of the Scotch families were glad to return 



GZ ACADIA 

to their native land : those remaining became absorbed in the 
French population in the course of a generation. 

De Bazilly did not settle at Port Royal, but after taking 
formal possession went to Le Heve. This location had long 
been known to the French fishermen ; it was an admirable 
place to carry on the shore fishery - r the harbor was spacious, 
safe, and easy of access. De Eazilly's fort was erected at 
the head of La Heve harbor on its western side, on a little 
hillock of three or four* acres ; it was a small, unpretending* 
palisaded enclosure, with a bastion at each corner. This 
fort constituted a kind of trading house, around which the 
houses of the colonists might cluster, and in which the peo- 
ple might seek refuge in time of danger. DeKazilly, in the 
first year, brought out forty colonists from France, who 
settled on the rocky land surrounding Le Heve.* 

Week as was the colony at Le Heve, it was strong enough 
to create great apprehensions in the New England Colonies. 
Go eernor Winthrop, in his diary, related how he called the 
chief men to Boston to devise what could be done for the 
safety of New England. The completion of the fort in 
Boston, a plantation and fort at Natascott, and a plantation 
at Agawam, was ordered. 

A party of Frenchmen came to Penobscot where the Ply- 
mouth colonies had erected a trading house, pretending they 
had just arrived from sea, that they had lost their reckon- 
ing, and wanted to keel up their vessel and repair her. 
The people were mostly absent ; the French, seeing their 
opportunity, resolved to help themselves to the contents of 
the trading house ; they overpowered the four men in charge 
and loaded their vessel with the pilfered goods. Then set- 
ting the guards at liberty, they told them to inform their 
master on his return that some gentlemen of the Isle of 
Ehe had been there. It is highly probable that Claude La 



*Now occupied by the town of Halifax 



TUB LA TOUR3 63 

four was at the head of this maurauding party, to reim- 
burse himself for bis loss at Penobscot when it was taken 
from him by the English.* 

While returning with the plunder of Penobscot, the French 
fell in with an English shallop, in command of Dixy Bull, 
and robbed him of his goods. Bull was so much discour- 
aged by his failure in getting an honest living, that he de- 
termined to turn pirate himself. Gathering together nearly 
a score of other vagabond Englishmen, and seizing some 
boats, he rifled the fort at Pemaquid, and plundered the 
settlers. He was chased away by a hastily organiz 3d force, 
and a bark was fitted out with twenty men to capture him, 
which returned unsuccessful after a two months' cruise. 
This man Bull was the first pirate history mentions as being 
on the coast of New England. 

Another collision between the French and English set- 
tlers occurred the following year, in which La Tour dispos- 
sessed a company at Machias, wnere they had established 
a trading house, killed two men, and took prisoners three 
of the guard over it ; the prisoners and captured goods he 
carried off to the La Tour fort at Cape Sable. He further 
told them if he caught them trading to the east of Pemaquid 
be would seize them and their vessels as lawful prizes to the 
lung of France. One of the English asked to see La 
Tour's commission ; he informed the questioner his word 
was a sufficient commission where he had strength to over- 
come his enemies ; when that failed, he would show him 
his commission. 

The claim of the French was again enforced in the follow- 
ing year [1635]. De Bazilly sent a vessel to Penobscot 
under command of his Lieut., Charnisey by name. The 
trading post at Penobscot which had been despoiled by the 
French a few years previous was still kept up by the Ply- 

*Hannay. 



6£ ACADIA" 

mouth colony, but was lit L Ae capable of defence. ChaTnisey 
seized all the goods in the trading house there j he gave 
the men their liberty, but showed them his commission 
from the French commander at La Eeve to remove all the 
English as far south as Pemaquid. He bade them tell their 
people he would return next year with ships and men, and 
remove the whole colony as far south as the 40th degree of 
North Latitude. He then coolly proceeded to occupy the 
trading post and strengthen its defenses, a caution which 
served him to good purpose as subsequent events proved. 

When the news of this violent proceeding reached the 
Plymouth colonists, their rage knew no bounds. After due 
deliberation they entered into a contract with a private in- 
dividual, Mr. Girling, owner of a sailing vessel the Great 
Hope, — who undertook,, for a payment of two hundred 
pounds, to drive the French out of Penobscot,, the Ply- 
mouth colony to aid him with a bark and about twenty-five 
men. The French, eighteen in number,- were so strongly 
intrenched, that after expending most of his powder and 
shot in an ineffectual cannonade, Girling was obliged to 
send to Boston for assistance^ leaving the Great Hope to* 
maintain the blockade. 

The General Court having assembled at Boston, the mat- 
ter was brought before it in due form ; a diversity of senti- 
ment prevailed as to the measures it were best to adopt. — 
Mutual jealousies and misunderstandings pervaded the 
council, and the conference fell through without arriving at 
any decision. Girling f s ship was soon withdrawn, and the 
French were left in undisturbed possession of the mouth of 
the Penobscot for several years. 

The last grant of importance made by the Company of 
New France was to Charles de La Tour,— that of the fort 
and habitation of La Tour on the Biver St. John, with lands 
adjacent. This fort was destined, in after years, to be th© 
theatre of the most stirring events in Acadian history. 



THE LA TOURS 65 

In 1676, Isaac de Kazilly died in the midst of plans for 
the colonization of Acadia. The young colony soon became 
merged in dissensions ; instead of engaging in the work of 
providing for their wants and improving their surroundings, 
they separated into contending factions, and carried on their 
quarrels with the most bitter animosity. As a legitimate 
result, after forcy years had elapsed, scarcely a family had 
been added to the population of Acadia : during all this pe- 
riod New England, being more united in sentiment, was 
rapidly increasing in wealth and population. 

After the death of Kazilly, it would seem that dharnisey 
was permitted, by the rightful heirs, to enter into posses- 
sion of his estates, though the deed of transfer was not 
given until some years later. One of his first acts was to 
take possession of Port Royal, erect a new fort there, and 
remove thither a portion of the colonists at La Heve. He 
added to their number twenty families emigrating from 
France. Charles La Tour was occupying the fort at the 
mouth of the St. John River, and his father Claude La 
Tour was holding the fortification at Port La Tour. A feud 
grew up between La Tour and Charnisey, exceeding in bit- 
terness and direful consequences the warfare previously 
mentioned, against their English neighbors : as contentions 
between kindred are apt to be of the most hostile kind. 

The site of La Tour's fort was on the west bank of the St. 
John, at its mouth, on a gentle rise of ground commanding 
the bay and river. On the west side of the harbor, opposite 
Navy Island, remains of earthworks may yet be seen, mark- 
ing the locations of the bastions of the fort.* Traces of it, 
however, are rapidly disappearing,— the rapidly growing 
town of Carleton having already utilized most of its site. 
The fort was one hundred and forty feet square, compris- 

* The author was shown these markings in the summer of 1880 through 
the caurtesy of Mr. J. Hannay, the gentlemanly resident historian, who 
has given much attention to facts in Acadian history. 



66 ACADIA 

ing four bastions, and was enclosed by palisades, according 
to the prevailing custom of those early times. It was strong- 
ly built of stone, and contained two houses, a chapel, mag- 
azine, and stables for cattle. Twenty cannon composed the 
heavy ordnance of the fort. In this savage 3'etreat lived 
Charles La Tour, affecting a style and show of military 
power emulating the baronetcies of the old world. The 
woods, the sea and the streams, furnished an abundance of 
the choicest viands, and tne yearly ship brought such luxu- 
ries and necessities as the new country did not afford. A 
course of military drill was kept up, both as a display and 
as a means of self-preservation, — in addition to which, trad- 
ing with the Indians gave employment to the men. Sur- 
rounded by dense woods of hr and larch, full of howling 
beasts and wild natives, within sound and yet secure from 
attack ; but more suspicious of their white neighbors across 
the foggy Bay of Fundy : — the seasons came and went in 
their accustomed rounds : doubtless no ruler was evermore 
absolute in his authority, or more careless of what was tran- 
spiring in the outer world. Hunters and trappers, both 
white and Indian, frequented the fort, to dispose of their 
peltries and procure the necessities of life. Many an even- 
ing was spent in the midst of a -vigorous northern winter, 
by the roaring fire-places, by the wild fellows of tne forest, 
smoking their pipes, telling of lights with the red man, of 
encounters with roaming beasts and other dangers of the 
woods. Romantic and wild must such a life have been — as 
nearly the realization of the drearn of an adventurer as could 
well be surmised. Lady La Tour must have led a lonely 
life, with no society but that of her husband and children. 
Once a } T ear the ship came in — the only tie that bound her 
to her native land — and brought her news from home, and 
awakened memories of her native cum?;. 

La Tour and Charmsey each held a commission as Lieu- 
tenant from the King of Prance : both had large territories 



THE LA T0T7ES 67 

and were engaged in the same trade. To complicate mat- 
ters, Charuisey's fort at Port Koyal was in the tract grant- 
ed to La Tour, while La Tour's fort at St. John was in the 
limits of land under government of Charnisey, and also 
commanded the whole of the St. John Eiver territory — a 
tract rich in furs and abounding in fish. It was not un- 
natural that Charnisey should make an effort to disposs^re 
his rival ; his first attempt was by diplomacy before the 
court of France. He succeeded so well at the French capi- 
tal, that before La Tour was aware of what Charnisey had 
been doing, he received an order from the King to embark 
immediately for France to answer sundry serious charges 
against him. A letter was sent by the King directing Char- 
nisey, in case La Tour failed to obey the order, to seize his 
person and make an inventory of his effects. To accom- 
plish this he was empowered to exercise all the means at his 
disposal, and to put La Tour's fort in the hands of persons 
well disposed to do the King's service. By one fell stroke, 
without being allowed the privilege of defense, La Tour 
was to be robbed of his possession?, and sent a prisoner to 
France. Not long after this he was still farther degraded 
by having his commission of Governor revoked — a commis- 
sion he had held with credit for half a score of years. 

A vessel was sent to Acadia bearing these letters to La 
Tour, and was intended by the King to convey La Tour a 
prisoner to France. The latter, not without reason, aver- 
red that these papers were obtained from the King through 
misrepresentation; and though by refusing to obey the 
royal mandate he was aware he made himself liable to a 
charge of treason, he boldly declined giving up his property. 
His fort at St. John was in such a state of defense that 
Charnisey dare not attack ; the vessel was sent back with- 
out its prisoner. 

La Tour had maintained himself in Acadia, by his energy 
and tact alone, for many years ; he was of a ca3t of mind to 



C8 ACADIA 

maintain himself as long as he had power to do so. Legal 
documents, usually so all-powerful, were not much feared 
where there was no force to back them. Charnisey knew 
he could not dispossess his rival without aid from France, 
and soon returned to that country to make another effort 
against him. 

La Tour was well aware that Charnisey had powerful 
friends at Court — and further that he was an accomplished 
diplomatist. He began therefore to prepare for the strug- 
gle that he knew was sure to come. He had openly defied 
the authority of the King, and he must expect the conse- 
quences of his disobedience, unless he could devise means 
of escape. He determined to seek help from his neighbors 
of New England, with whom he was then on good terms, 
and in November, 1641, sent as messenger a Huguenot 
named Eochette to Boston to confer with them. Eochette 
proposed a treaty between Massachusetts Bay and La Tour. 
Governor Winthrop informs us the treaty was to embrace 
three points : 

1. — Free commerce. 

2. — Assistance against Charnisey, with whom La Tour 
had war. 

3. — That La Tour might make return of goods out of 
England through the merchants of Boston. 

The first condition was immediately granted ; the other 
two were rejected because Eochette brought with him no 
letters or commission from La Tour, and, therefore, no evi- 
dence had been offered of his official capacity. Eochette 
was courteously entertained by the people of Boston during 
his stay. 

In October of the following year, La Tour sent his lieu- 
tenant to Boston with a shallop and fourteen men. This 
time he bore letters from La Tour to Governor Winthrop, 
highly complimenting his Governorship, and requesting the 



THE LA TOURS 69 

people of New England to assist him against his enemy, 
Charnisey. These Frenchmen were grandly entertained by 
the Bostonians; the best of feelings sprang up between 
them — even the Catholic French attended the Protestant 
churches — but no measures were taken to grant the assist- 
ance asked for. 

La Tour's lieutenant, while in Boston, formed an ac- 
quaintance with the merchants, and proposed the opening 
up of a trade. In conformity therewith the merchants sent 
a pinnace to Fort La Tour, laden with goods. This was 
the beginning of a trade with them which lasted as long as 
La Tour remained in Acadia. La Tour sent a letter to Gov- 
ernor Winthrop, thanking him for the courteous manner in 
which his lieutenant had been treated. On the way back 
the vessel stopped at Pemaquid. Here La Tour's messen- 
gers met with Charnisey — the latter gentleman told them 
the letter was from a rebel. He sent a printed copy of the 
order for La Tour's arrest to Governor Winthrop, and 
threatened, if the merchants of Boston sent more vessels to 
trade with La Tour, he would seize them as lawful prizes. 

This order of arrest was the result of Charnisey 's last 
voyage to France. He had succeeded in securing title to 
large territories in Acadia, on which title he had borrowed 
large sums to enable him to carry on war against La Tour, 
He was now determined on one great effort, and had secur- 
ed means to employ live ships and a force of five hundred 
armed men in this bitter feud. 

In the meantime La Tour was not idle. He dispatched 
Rochette to France to obtain aid. His cause was espoused 
with ardor by the Rochellois, who determined on going to 
his rescue. They fitted out a large armed vessel, the "Clem- 
ent" loaded her with ammunition and other supplies, put on 
board one hundred armed Rochellois, and sent her with all 
speed to La Tour's fort. Thus was civil war in Acadia fed 
on both sides from France — swords being shaped at Ro- 



70 ACTADIA 

chelle and at Paris with which to carry on this fratricidal 
strife. Clouds of fate, dark and ominous, brooded over the 
future of La Tour, yet he continued to maintain the strug- 
gle with courage unabated. 

Early in June y 1643, an armed vessel suddenly appeared 
in the harbor of Boston. Scarcely was her presence noted 
until she had passed Castle Island and she had thundered 
forth a salute which echoed long and loud over the littler 
Puritan town. There was no response — the Governor's 
garrison being withdrawn. A boat filled with armed men 
was seen to leave the ships side,, and was rapidly rowei to 
Governors Island, landing at Gov. Winthrop's garden. The 
boat was there met by the Governor and his two sons, who* 
found the passengers to be La Tour and a party of his fol- 
lowers, come to solicit aid. 

Early in the spring Charnisey had appeared before Fort 
La Tour with several vessels of war and five hundred men. 
Unable to carry the works by assault, blockade was resort- 
ed to, until such time as the necessities of the garrison 
should force a capitulation. In a few weeks the Clement 
appeared off St. John harbor, with men and supplies for La 
Tour, but was unable to enter on account of the blockade. 
Under cover of night La Tour stole out of the fort and 
boarding the Clement, crowded sail for Boston, where he 
arrived after a speedy passage. 

Gov. "Winthrop hastily called together such of the Mag- 
istrates as were at hand, and gave La Tour a formal hearing 
before them. The papers of the Clement showed La Tour 
was still styled "her majesty's lieutenant general in America," 
which was regarded as an offset to the order for his arrest 
showed by Charnisey. He was informed by the Governor 
and Council, that while no aid could be openly granted 
without the advice of the other members of the Govern- 
ment, he was at liberty to hire such men and ships as were 
in Boston. The Boston merchants were aware that their 



THE LA TOURS 71 

trade would be injured by the destruction of La Tour, and 
the latter found no difficulty in securing the assistance he 
wanted. He hired four vessels of the firm of Gibbons & 
Hawkins, the Seabridge, Philip and Mary, Increase, and 
the Greyhound, together with fifty-two men and thirty- 
eight pieces of ordnance; enlisted ninety-two men to aug- 
ment the force on board his vessel, provided all with arms 
and supplies, and was about to set sail with his flotilla for 
Acadia, when a new danger beset him. 

By the articles of agreement, the ships were not required 
to undertake any offensive operations. It was stipulated 
they were to go as near Fort La Tour as they con Id con- 
veniently ride at anchor, and join with the Clement in the 
defense of themselves or La Tour, in case Charnisey should 
assault, or oppose their approach to the fort. Any addi- 
tional assistance was to be a subject of further negotiation, 
the agent of the Boston owners accompanying the expedi- 
tion for the purpose. Doubtless the wily Frenchman sur- 
mised, that in case of open hostilities, the heat of the strife 
would cause them to forget the precise terms of the agree- 
ment, and induce them to join with him in annihilating the 
enemy. The news soon spread, however, that Winthrop 
had formed an alliance with the French Papist, and many 
letters of warning and deprecation were showered upon the 
Governor. Several ministers referred to the matter from 
their pulpits, and even went so far as to prophesy that the 
streets of their town would yet run red witn blood, in con- 
sequence of this alliance with La Tour, and public senti- 
ment ran so high that it seemed the expedition would be 
broken up altogether. In the midst of this clamor, Gov. 
Winthrop called another council, to whom he stated the 
condition of affairs, which had been grossly misrepresent- 
ed, and the question was fully discussed. 

The Puritans regarded the Old Testament as their guide. 
One party claimed, by the examples of Jehoshaphat, Jonas 



72 ACADIA 

and Amaziah, that it was wrong for righteous persons to as- 
sociate with the ungodly in any way. The other side con- 
tended that the censure applied only to the particular cases 
in which it was given, and were not general in application ; 
otherwise it would be unlawful to help a wicked man in any 
case. The latter party seems to have had the best of the 
argument, and the expedition was allowed to proceed. 

La Tour bore away from the port of Boston about the 
middle of July, having made a host of friends during his 
stay. He made all speed for Acadia, and there was reason 
for haste, for during this entire period Charnisey had cut off 
all supplies from La Tour r s fort, supposing his enemy to be 
within. 

When La Tour's fleet of five ships came in sight off St. 
John, Charnisey's vessels were lying alongside Partridge 
Island. Suspecting the true state of affairs,. Charnisey did 
not care to measure strength with the allied powers, but 
stood straight for Port Koyal, and running his vessels 
aground, he and his men betook themselves to the shore, 
where they proceeded to put the mill in a state of defense. 
The enemy pursued; Captain Hawkins sent an officer 
on shore bearing an apologetic letter explaining the pres- 
ence of the New Englanders. Charnisey refused to receive 
it because it was not addressed to him as Lieutenant of Aca- 
dia. When the messenger returned, he reported great ter- 
ror among the French, the friars included, and all were do- 
ing their best to put themselves in a position of defense. 

La Tour urged Hawkins to send a force ashore and attack 
the mill ; this the latter declined to do j if any of the New 
Englanders chose to go of their own accord, he would do 
nothing to prevent it. About thirty Bostonians availed 
themselves of the permission, and the united forces marched 
to the attack of Charnisey at his improvised fortress. After 
a sharp engagement, during which the besieged suffered the 
loss of three men killed and one taken prisoner, and three 



THE LA TOUBS 73 

of La Tour's men were wounded, Charnisey was driven from 
the mill. The New Englanders escaped without the loss of 
a &.' an. 

TLe allied forces now returned to Fort La Tour, where 
we may conjecture their victory was duly celebrated. Dur- 
ing- the period they were lying there, a pinnace belonging 
to Charn'sey was captured, having on board four hundred 
moose hides and a like number of skins of the beaver. This 
was a rare prize; the booty was divided between the New 
England owners and crews, and La Tour. Hawkins was 
evidently willing to rob Charnisey, if not to fight him. La 
Tour paid off the vessels and crews that had been hired, 
and the New Englanders reached home in thirty-seven days 
from the time they had left Boston, in high spirits, without 
the loss of a man or ship. The good Puritan elders were 
shocked at the piratical seizure of the French pinnace, and 
claimed the expedition had done too much or too little ; — 
they ought either to have remained neutral in the war, or 
else taken measures to effectually crush out the rival of La 
Tour. 

Charnisey, not disheartened, commenced the erection of 
a new fort at Port Royal,* and returned to France for fur- 
ther aid. He there heard of the arrival of Lady La Tour, 
who had sailed for France to further her husband's interests 
and procure supplies. Charnisey obtained an order for her 
arrest on the ground that she was equally a traitor to the 
King with her husband ; before the order could be executed 
Bhe fled to England. Here she soon made many warm 
friends, and found means to freight a ship with supplies in 
London, and o forewarn her husband of the danger he was 
in from the efforts of Charnisey. 

For many weeks La Tour, almost desparing, waited by 



* I assume that Charnisey's old fort was on the site of Ghamplanrs fort, 
opposite Goat Island, and that the new fort was built on the now ruined 
fortifications of Annapolis. (Hannay.) 

e* 



74 ACADIA 

the Kiver St. John for the return of his wife. He finally 
sailed for Boston where he made known to Endicott his 
difficulties. A meeting of the magistrates was called ; a few 
were unwilling to operate in favor of La Tour, and the rest 
would not act without the consent of all ; La Tour was forc- 
ed to return without the coveted assistance. All the New 
Englanders did was to send a letter of remonstrance to 
Charnisey. La Tour left Boston early in September, hav- 
ing spent two months to very little purpose. He boarded 
his vessel on training day, and all the training bands were 
made guard for him to the ship's boat ; as he sailed out of 
the harbor the English vessels saluted him. He was accom- 
panied by a Boston vessel laden with provisions for St. 
John. La Tour happening to delay on the way, by that 
means narrowly escaped capture by an armed vessel that 
Charnisey had sent to cruise the Bay of Eundy on the watch 
for him ; but which, on the supposition he had escaped, had 
put into port. 

Scarcely had the pennants of La Tour's vessels sank be- 
low the distant horizon, before a vessel displaying English 
colors came into Boston Harbor. Among her passengers 
were Roger Williams and Lady La Tour. This notable 
lady had left England six months before together with sup- 
plies on board this vessel, with a destination at Fort La 
Tour. The master had spent some time trading on the 
coast ; it was September when they reached Cape Sable ; as 
the vessel was entering the Bay of Fundy it was captured 
by an armed ship in the employ of Charnisey. It was found 
necessary to secrete Lady La Tour and her party, and to con- 
ceal the identity of the vessel — the master pretending she 
was bound direct for Boston. Charnisey, little suspecting 
the valuable prize he had in his possession, let them go, 
contenting himself with sending a message to the Governor 
of Massachusetts expressing a desire to be on good terms 
with that colony. The vessel was therefore forced to change 



THE LA TOURS 



75 



the destination of her voyage to Boston. This change in 
the voyage, added to unreasonable delay, was made the 
basis of an action at law brought by Lady La Tour for dam- 
ages. She was awarded two thousand pounds; seizing the 
cargo of the ship , she, with the money thus acquired, hired 
three vessels to take the cargo and herself home, where she 
safely arrived alter an absence of more than a year. 

When Charnisey was apprized of Lady La Tour's safe 
arrival at her fort, and her friendly treatment at Boston, his 
rage knew no bounds. He directed an insulting letter to 
Governor Endicott, accusing him of dealing with a lack of 
honor ; threatening him with the dire vengeance of the King 
of France. Chavnisey soon displayed his vindicative spirit 
in a practical way ; a small vessel sent out from Boston with 




PAllTKIlXrE ISLAND. 



supplies for Fort La Tour was captured, and the crew all 
turned loose upon Partridge Island, in deep snow, without 
fire, or scarcely a shelter, where they were kept close pris- 
oners ten days. Charnisey then gave them an old shallop 
ill which to return home ; after stripping them of most of 
their clothes, and allowing them neither gun nor compass, 
they were suffered to depart for Boston, which they at last 
reached in sorry plight. 

The New Engianclers were highly incensed at this out- 
rage. The Puritan Governor dispatched a messenger in a 
vessel to Charnisey bearing a letter full of spirit; he said 
his people meant to do right, and feared not the King of 
France. Charnisey told the messenger he would return no 



76 ACADIA 

answer, and would not permit him to enter the fort — lodg- 
ing him without the gate. He, however, dined with him 
every day to show the messenger it was only as the bearer 
of Endicott's letter that he disowned him. Finally he in- 
dited a letter to Gov. Endicott, couched in high language, 
requiring satisfaction for the burning of his mill by the New 
England auxiliaries of La Tour two years previous, and 
threatening vengeance in case his demands were not met. 

At the time the crew of the Boston vessel were fighting 
cold and hunger at Partridge Island, two friars hailed Char- 
nisey's ships from the mainland and desired to be taken on 
board. They came from Fort La Tour, and had been turn- 
ed out for showing signs of disaffection. Had Lady La 
Tour hung them instead, the sequel to this story might have 
been different. They told Charnisey that was the time for 
him to attack; that La Tour was absent, the fort rotten, 
with only fifty men to guard it, and susceptible of an easy 
reduction. On their representations Charnisey drew up his 
armament, ranged the vessels in front of the fort, and open- 
ed a brisk cannonade. The fire was returned with such 
vigor that Charnisey was obliged to warp his vessel behind 
a point of land out of range, and lost twenty men killed and 
thirteen wounded. This was in February, 1645. 

In April of the same year Charnise}' made another attack 
from the land side. La Tour was stiil absent — his mission 
to New England to secure aid had proved fruitless, and he 
could not reach home on account of armed cruisers waiting 
to capture him. Three days and nights the attack contin- 
ued ; the heroic lady commandant was resolved to hold out 
to the last ; the defense was so well conducted that the be- 
siegers were forced to draw off with loss. Treachery accom- 
plished what heroism could not. Charnisey found means 
to bribe a Swiss sentry while the garrison were at prayers, 
who allowed the enemy to approach the fort without giving 
the alarm, and who were scaling the walls before the besieged 



THE LA TOURS 77 

were aware of the attack. But even tlien the heroism of 
Lady La Tour repulsed them, and Charnisey lost twelve 
men killed and many wounded, while fighting within the 
fort. Charnisey now proposed terms of capitulation ; Lady 
La Tour, despairing of successful resistance, accepted, and 
the besiegers were given possession. 

No sooner did Charnisey find himself master of the place 
than he disclosed all the baseness of his character. On pre- 
tense that he had been deceived, he caused all the garrison 
to be hung but one, whom he spared on condition that he 
should be the executioner of his comrades. Lady La Tour 
suffered the indignity of being forced to be present at the 
execution with a rope about her neck, by way of showing 
that he considered her as deserving of hanging as were the 
others, but that her life was spared only by his gracious 
forbearance. 

This broke the spirit of this remarkable lady ; she surviv- 
ed the fall of the fort only about three weeks, when she was 
laid to rest on the banks of St. John. This noble wife and 
mother left behind a little child which was sent to France ; 
but as no further mention is made of it, the supposition is 
that it died young.* 

The booty taken by Charnisey in La Tour's fort amount- 
ed to more than £10,000. This loss ruined La Tour; and 
Charnisey had become so much involved by the expense of 
the war, that he could not hope to liquidate his own indebt- 
edness. Thus were both men ruined by a useless and fool- 
ish war against one another, when both otherwise might 
have become wealthy. 

La Tour was in Boston when the news of the reduction 
of his fort and the death of his wife reached him. Being 
by nature of a hopeful spirit, he was not the man to yield 
to misfortune ; his address procured friends wherever he 



* Hannay. 



7S 



ACADIA 



went ; in his greatest straits ne never wanted for money to 
supply his immediate necessities. He applied to Sir David 
Kirk, Governor of Newfoundland, who expressed a willing- 
ness to render the required aid, but whose promises were 
not fulfilled : towards Spring the merchants of Boston fit- 
ted him out with supplies for a trading voyage to the east- 
ward. 

In the summer of 1646, we hear of La Tour in Quebec, 
where he was received with marked honors. The guns of 
the citadel thundered forth a salute ; the garrison was dra -/n 
up to receive him in a manner worthy of one of high rank ; 
the whole populace turned out to behold the man of whom 
they had heard so much ; in short, the civic and military 
vied with each other in their expressions of hospitality and 
respect. How strange and unaccountable are the workings 
of human passion and prejudice, as exemplified in the treat- 
ment La Tour at various times received from his country- 
men ; — at one time we behold him hunted down as an oat- 
law, at another he is entertained in the style of a priuce — 
all under the laws of the same Empire. 

Charnisey had now nearly attained the summit of his am- 
bition. He had driven his rival out of the country ; he was 
received with the favors and smiles of royalty at home ; a 
treaty had been definitely settled with the colony of Massa- 
chusetts ; and he now was the undisputed monarch of an 
extent of territory half the size of France. He built mills, 
dyked the marshes, constructed vessels to carry on his com- 
merce ; — thus were his dominions daily growing in strength 
and opulence. 

One eonqnest more, however, was necessary before his 
thirst for power could be satisfied. Nicolas Denys, a friend 
and intimate associate of Charnisey, had been appointed 
" Governor of the whole coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and the islands adjacent," and it was to dispossess hiin of 
this territory that Charnisey now turned his attention. He 



THE LA TOURS 79 

fitted out a fleet, and dispatching- it against his old friend 
Denys, seized all of his forts, captured his goods, broke up 
his tishing establishments, and ruined his settlers. Past 
friendship avai'ed nothing with the cold-hearted and rapa- 
cious conqueror. 

Charnisey was at length vanquished by a foe he could 
not subdue. In 1630, he met a violent death by drowning 
in Port Royal River. Neither history nor tradition gives 
any particulars of the event further than is given in these 
few words. "Whether the occurrence was premeditated on 
his part, or that of some one he had deeply wronged, or was 
the result of accident, will perhaps ever remain a mystery. 
He had, in his life, been hard and cruel, incapable of pity, 
and destitute of remorse for his treachery toward the heroic 
Lady La Tour, Though treated with such high favor when 
at the French court, his influence there did not survive him 
a single day; — indeed, it was said there was not a friend to 
be found in all Prance who would speak for him. Denys, 
his co temporary, speaks only of his rapacity, cruelty, and 
tyranny. 

News of Charnisey's death having reached La Tour, the 
latter lost no time in sailing ior Prance, A living man has 
good chanse of success when confronted by a dead rival, 
and so it proved in this case. La Tour speedily secured an 
acquittal of the charges against him, and obtained a new 
commission with additional rights ; and thus with character 
cleared, and endowed with the fullest powers a sovereign 
could bestow, he once more returned absolute monarch of 
Acadia. 

La Tour took possession of his old fort at the mouth of 
the St. John, the widow of Charnisey meanwhile remaining 
with her children at Port Royal. That lady beginning to 
view with alarm La Tour's pretentions to the country, enter 
ed into an agreement with the Duke cle Yendome, a reputed 
son of Henry IV, who for a consideration was to aid her in 



8(f ACADIA 

recovering her possessions. This agreement havings receiv- 
ed the sanction of letters patent from the government of 
France, the skies of La Tour's prosperity began to be dark- 
ened by portents of a coming tempest. The matter was 
righted without the shedding of blood by a mutual agree- 
ment between the principals in the quarrel \ that is to say,. 
La Tour married the widow of Charnisey, and. united their 
varied interests into one. Articles of agreement were drawn 
up with great minuteness of detail, and the marriage was 
solemnized in the presence of many august witnesses. La 
Tour had now passed his fiftieth year, and no doubt rejoiced 
at the prospect of peace, in which, however,, he was doomed 
to further disappointment. 

This adverse fortune was embodied in the person of Le 
Borgne, a merchant of Rochelle,. who had obtained judg- 
ment in the courts against Charnisey for money advanced 
him, to the amount of 160,000 livres, and who had come out 
to Acadia to take possession of Charnisey's estate, which 
he understood embraced ail of Acadia, 

LeBorgne began operations by plundering the settlements 
on. the Laurentian Gulf belonging to Nicolas Denys, as 
Charnisey had done before him y capturing vessels and car- 
goes, and taking .Denys and his men prisoners. They came 
by way of La Heve, where they burned all the buildings, 
not sparing even the chapel. Denys was placed in a dun- 
geon at Port Royal, but was afterwards liberated , when he 
returned to France ; he was in due time restored to his,; 
rights, and eventually to his possessions, on the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, from which he had twice been ruthlessly torn. 

Le Borg lie's success in this warlike exploit emboldened 
him to undertake another — no less than the capture of Fort 
La Tour. This he attempted to do by strategy, but a shal- 
lop having secretly left Port Royal with information of Le 
Borgne's intentions, the enterprise failed. Before the war 
could be carried further an English fleet appeared upon the 



THE LA TOURS 



81 



scene, and both La Tour and Le Borgne capitulated to the 
superior force of the enemy. 

The seizure of Acadia was welcome news to the New Eng- 
enders, who had looked with alarm at the growth of a ri- 
val colony in the new world. Cromwell seems to have jus- 
tified the act, and a government was organized for the con- 
trol of affairs in the new territorial acquisition. It was 
arranged that whosoever traded with the colony should pay 
enough for the privilege to support the garrison ; Massa- 
chusetts was asked to enforce the law, and assist the Eng- 
lish in Acadia if necessity required. 

La Tour resolved on one more grand effort to retrieve 
his fortunes. Hastening to England he laid his cause be- 
fore Cromwell, showing how, as co-grantee and heir of his 
father, he was entitled to large possessions in Acadia by 
grant of the British Crown through Sir William Alexander; 
his well known plausibility and address secured for him a 
triumphant success. The Acadian diplomat, having asso- 
ciated with him Thomas Temple and William Crowne, and 
secured a large grant of territory, next sold out his interest 
to his partners, probably fearing the dissensions that would 
sooner or later occur. He evidently regarded a title of an 
estate in Acadia as very precarious property, so much in 
dispute, and so frequently changing masters. La Tour 
lived about thirteen years after this, dying at the ripe age 
of 72, and was buried in the beloved Acadian land which 
had been his home from his boyhood. 

Temple was made Governor of the forts at St. John and 
Penobscot, and commenced the expenditures of large sums 
of money in improvements. In the meantime, the home 
government having been changed, Temple was in danger 
of losing his title. He was obliged to compromise witn a 
Frenchman named Thomas Elliot, by an annual payment of 
six hundred pounds. He found it necessary also to return 
to England to defend his interests, one Captain Breedon 



82 ACADIA 

having been appointed Governor in his place. In July, 1667, 
the famous treaty of Breda was signed, by which instrument 
England ceded to France all the province of Acadia. Temple 
was ordered to deliver up Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, 
Cape Sable and La Keve, to the person appointed to receive 
them. After some delay the forts were formally deliver- 
ed up — Chevalier de Grand-fontaine having been commis- 
sioned by Louis XIV to receive them. A careful inventory 
of the forts and their contents was taken, evidently with a 
view of establishing a claim for indemnity in Temple's be- 
half. He estimated his expenditures in Acadia at £16,000, 
but neither he nor his heirs were able to recover any part 
of this vast sum from the Crown of Eug^and. 



FROM GEAND-FONTilNE TO MENNEVAL. 



At tne time Grand-f ontaine had established himself on the 
Penobscot there were less than five-hundred white people 
living in all Acadia. Though nearly three-fourths of a cen- 
tury had elapsed since De Monts formed the first settlement 
at St. Croix Island, the time had been so fully occupied in 
attending to their quarrels among themselves, and so much 
property wasted in the wars with their English neighbors,. 
that the real interests of the Province were neglected. The 
prime motive that actuated the promoters of colonization, 
was thirst for gold. Accounts of the vast quantities of the 
precious metals that the cruel and rapacious Spaniards ware 
acquiring in Mexico and Peru, were being industriously cir- 
culated throughout Europe with favorable exaggerations : 
a country that did not abound in gold was apt to be consid- 
ered worthless. Acadia, notwithstanding all the wealth of 
her natural resources, came under the universal ban, and 
capitalists were unwilling to take the trouble and risk ex- 
cept the prospect of sudden wealth was held out to them. 
Besides, the government of the colony was continually re- 
verting from one power to the other ; plunder and pillage 
'.-/as the order of the day; the resources of the soil had not 
been developed, nor were the locations for settlement at all 
times wisely chosen ; the governors appointed to look after 
the welfare of the colonists, were more apt to look after 



84 ACADIA 

their own interests to the detriment of the public; in a 
word, so many were the di?ad vantages, that we cease to 
wonder the growth of Acadia was so slow. The brief sov- 
ereignty granted to Grand-fontaine, was not without the 
difficulties that usually beset the rulers of Acadia. Th9 
encroachments of his English neighbors, the jealousies of 
his French associates in Acadia, and the machinations of 
enemies at home, kept him fully occupied. During his ad- 
ministration a few colonists repaired to Chignecto, " where 
an enormous area of marsh land awaited but the care of man 
to yield its ricnes," A few years later Piere Theriot, CLaud 
and Antoine Landry and Eerie Le Blanc began settlement 
at Mia as, which finally grew to be the most rich and popu- 
lous in Acadia. 

In 1673 Grand-fontaine was succeeded by Chambly. 
During the summer of the following year, as Charnbly with 
his garrison of thirty men were at tneir usual duties about 
the fort at Penobscot, they were startled by the appearance 
of a Dutch war vessel on the river. Louis XIV was then 
at war with Holland, and while his generals were winning 
glory for him in Europe, the Dutch thought they might aid 
in the cause by attacking the French in America. The ves- 
sel was heavily armed and carried a force of one hundred 
and ten men ; after a brief combat, during which several of 
the garrison were killed, Chambly capitulated. The French 
fort at Jemseg, on the St. John River, likewise was taken b} 
the Hollander, who made no effort to hold on to the forts so 
easily captured, but was content with plundering them oi 
their valuables. The French made no further attempt to 
occupy the fort at Penobscot, and it was suffered to faU 
into decay. 

In the summer of 1676 the Dutch again visited Penobscol 
and undertook to restore and garrison the fort. The French 
were too weak to offer resistance ; but the English, unwil* 
ling to see a Dutch colony established on their northern bo* 



FROM GRAND-FONTAINE TO MENNEVAL 85 

ders, dispatched two or three vessels from Boston, and the 
invaders were driven off. The English quitted the place as 
soon as they had dispossessed the Dutch, not caring to main- 
tain a garrison there, 

Pentagoet, as this fort was afterward called, was not suf- 
fered to remain tenantless. Baron de St. Castin, an Indian 
chieftain of French birth and education, immediately oc- 
cupied it with his savage subjects. This man figured large- 
ly in th« events transpiring in Acadia and the adjacent New 
England provinces. His character and disposition has been 
made the subject of much adverse criticism, and also of com- 
mendation, by various historians who have written of him. 
He married among the Indians (some say he had but one wife), 
and according to good authorities he was always friendly to 
the English, and used his influence to keep the savages at 
peace. Other authorities, entitled to equal credence per- 
haps, aver he lived a life of licentiousness among the In- 
dians, and that he incited them to acts of plunder and ra- 
pine against the English settlements, and that he even went 
so far as to direct the savages in person, in their maraud- 
ing incursions. Suffice it to say, that at one time the name 
of Baron St. Castin was a terror throughout New England, 
and he received the credit of planning all the Indian massa- 
cres that desolated the country. Was the community star- 
tied with the tidings of another frontier village laid waste 
by the midnight torch, and women and children tomahawk- 
ed and scalped! — "The Baron St. Castin"* was hurled from 
every tongue with bitter execrations. 



* The Baron St. Castin, a native of Oberon among the Pyrenees, hav- 
ing lived among the savages for above twenty years, is looked upon by 
them as their tutelar god. He married among them after their fashion, 
and preferred the forests of Acadia to the Pyrenian Mountains that en- 
compass the place of his nativity. The savages made him their greafc 
chief or leader, and by degrees he has worked himself into such a fortune, 
which any man but he would have made such use of, as to draw out of 



86 ACADIA 

Lauveigait, writing to Father La Chasse, says of the sons 
of the Baron : — " The insolence of the Messrs. de St. Castin 
has come to be so excessive, that they no longer set; bounds 
to it, in their conduct towards me or before God. The 
elder, who does not care to marry, and not satisfied with 
spreading corruption through the whole village, in addition 
to that, now makes a business of selling brandy, openly, in 
company with his nephew, the son of M. de Bellisle. They 
have been the means of one man being drowned already on 
account of it, and are like to be the destruction of many 
others. The younger of the Messrs. de St. Castin never 
comes to the village without getting drunk in public, and 
putting the whole village in an uproar." 

Mrs. Williams, in her excellent work on the Neutral 
French, pictures the home of Baron St. Castin as the abode 
of refinement which is in ill keeping with the sinister char- 
acter imputed to him by the English. As to his constancy, 
she goes on to say, one fact alone should set this matter at 
rest. The Baron had immense possessions in France, and 
many connections there, and his son by the daughter of 
Maclocawando, chief of the Tarratine tribe, had no difficulty 
in establishing his claim to his father's title and estates. 
He must, too, have been united to this woman by the rites 
of the Catholic Church, to make his claim good. It was 
known that he usually had a missionary of that denomina- 
tion in his house. 

In 1721 a son of Baron St. Castin was decoyed on board 

the country above two or three hundred thousand crowns, which he has 
now in his pocket, in good dry gold. But all the use he makes of it is to 
buy up goods for presents to his fellow savages, who upon their return 
from hunting, present him with beaver skins to treble their value. The 
Governor-General of Cauada keeps in with him, and the Governor of 
Ixew England is afraid of him. He has several daughters, who are all of 
them married very handsomely to Frenchmen. He has never changed 
his wife, by which means he intended to give the savages to understand, 
that God does not love inconstant folks. (La Hontan.) 



FEOM GRAND-FOfcTAINE TO MENNEVAL 87 

an English vessel in the harbor at Pentagoet, taken to Bos- 
ton and cast into prison. This proceeding was the occasion 
of much unfavorable comment in Massachusetts. The 
charge against him was, that he was present with the In- 
dians at Arrowsic, dressed in a splendid French uniform. 
His case was made the subject of legislative action ; a com- 
mittee being appointed, he so well satisfied them that wrong 
had been done him, that they reported favorable to his dis- 
charge. In reply to interrogatories he said: "I received 
no orders from the Governor of Canada to be present at Ar- 
rowsic. I have always lived with my kindred and people. — ■ 
My mother was an Abenakis — I was in authority over them. 
I should not have been true to my trusts if I had neglected 
to be present at a meeting wherein their interests were con- 
cerned. My uniform is required by my position, which is 
that of a Lieutenant under the French King. I have the 
highest friendship for the English. My disposition is to 
prevent iny people from doing them mischief ; and my efforts 
shall be to influence them to keep peace." 

In 1676 Chambly left Acadia, and La Villiere, M. Perrot. 
and Menneval successively exercised the functions of Gover- 
nor of the province, the latter coming into power in April, 
1687. The following year was signalized by the descent of 
a New England force upon Acadian soil, which opened the 
way for an Indian war that brought ruin and desolation to 
many a frontier village, and wasted many precious lives. 

Andross having become royal governor of New England 
under a commission from James II, he formed the resolu- 
tion to seize upon Penobscot. Setting sail, his frigate an- 
chored opi)osite Castin's residence, and a lieutenant was 
sent ashore to inform the Baron that Andross wished to see 
liini on board his vessel. St. Castin declined the interview, 
and with his family fled to the woods, leaving most of their 
household effects to the mercy of the enemy. Androsa 
landed and robbed his dwelling, and returned to Pemaquid 



88 ACAEIA 

with his booty ; but, as before stated, tho result showed it 
to be a costly prize. 

The Indians commenced hostilities the following August, 
probably urged on by St. Castin, though no doubt having 
grievances of their own to redress. Andross marched 
against them with a large force, but the savages entirely 
eluded him. Before he could take the field again in the 
Spring of 1689, owing to political changes in Europe, he 
was removed from office. France and England bemg at 
war this made an excuse for renewed hostilities between 
their subjects in the New World, Frontenac had been re- 
appointed Governor of Canada, and from his stronghold at 
Quebec, he was to direct operations on a grand sca'.e ; New 
England and New York were to be ravaged, and the Protest 
tant population driven from the soil. 

The war was renewed in June, 1689, by the destruction 
of Dover, New Hampshire, when Major Waldron and twenty- 
two others were killed and twenty-nine taken captive. The 
venerable Major was then eighty years of age, and was tor- 
tured to death as a retribution* for an act of treachery he 
had been guilty of some twelve years previous, and which 
doubtless caused the spilling of much innocent blood. Dur- 
ing King Philip's war the Major was in command of the 
militia at Dover. About four hundred Indians were en- 
camped there, with whom Waldron had made peace. Two 
companies of soldiers arriving soon after, the Major pro- 
posed a sham fight between the Indians and whites ; he in- 
duced the savages to fire the first volley which was no sooner 
done than they were surrounded by the soldiers and the 
whole of them made prisoners. Two hundred were taken 
to Boston, where seven or eight were hanged, and the rest 
sold into slavery. 

*The time had now arrived to satisfy their vengeance. Seating the 
old man in a chair, on a table, they tauntingly asked, "Who is going to. 



TBOM flBAND-FONTAlNE TO MENNEVAL 89 

The destruction of Dover was speedily followed by the 
massacre at Saco, and later still by that at Pernaquid. New 
England was aroused by these repeated attacks. A large 
force of volunteers was sent into the field, and the command 
^iven to Major Church, who had won reputation in King 
Philip's war. NothiDg of importance was accomplished 
that year. 

The war between the French and English in America 
opened early in 1690. Three expeditions were planned 
under the direction of Frontenac, which were sent against 
New York, New Hampshire and Maine ; the war parties 
being formed, respectively, at Montreal, Three Rivers, and 
Quebec. The Montreal force consisted of upwards of one 
hundred men, about half of whom were Indians. The lead- 
ers were Frenchmen, and Albany the destined point of at- 
tack ; but when, after a terrible winter journey through the 
wilderness, they reached its vicinity, the savages objected, 
and Schenectady was invested instead. "This village, which 
contained eight houses, they reached Feb. 18, 'in the evening. 
The people were found asleep, not having posted any senti- 
nels, though advised to be on the watch previously. They 
did not believe that Canadians, loaded with arms and pro- 
visions, would traverse for hundreds of miles the snowy 
wilds at such a season — an incredulity which cost them 
dear ! The French, — after reconnoitering the place, which 
bad a four-sided palisaded enclosure, with ten gates, — enter- 
ed the latter noiselessly, amid a snow-fall, about 11 p. m., and 
invested all the houses. These men, with frozen locks and 
burning eye, and vengeance in their hearts, resembled the 
terrible phantoms described by the Scandinavian bards. A 

Judge the red man now?" Amid whoops and jeers, they slit his nose, 
cropped his ears, and committed other cruelties upon his person, till faint 
from loss of blood, his own sword was held under him, which transpierced 
his body. 



90 ACADIA 

more grisly phantom, the King of terrors himself, it was 
who now entered at the portals of the silent streets of Sche- 
nectady, the indwellers of which were about to be awakened 
from their last sleep. Orders were given underbreath, and, 
each soldier muffling the rattling of his arms as agreed on, 
the fatal sign was given, and every door forced with hatch- 
ets."* The inhabitants thus caught by surprise could cffer 
no resistance. Two houses only were spared : one because 
a wounded French officer lay there ; the other was left out 
of regard to Mr. Sander, whose wife had kindly treated in 
past times some French prisoners. Sixty persons were 
killed, including ten women and twelve children; and twenty 
seven were led captive to Canada. Many in the darkness 
and confusion escaped the massacre only to perish by a more 
lingering death froni exposure: some who fled to Albany 
lost their limbs from frost. The victors carried away a 
quantity of plunder, but on their way back were pursued by 
a party of Mohawks, and a number of them were killed and 
taken. 

The Three Rivers expedition consisted of about fifty 
French and Indians. After a two months 1 journey through 
the trackless wilderness, the party attacked Berwick on the 
morning of the 28th of March, before daybreak. Thirty- 
four persons were killed, over fifty taken prisoners, the 
buildings were set on fire, and the return march was begun. 
One hundred and forty men were hastily collected from the 
neighboring towns, and the retreating party were pursued 
as far as Wooster River, where the enemy made a stand and 
checked the pursuit until nightfall, and then made good 
their escape. 

The third war party left Quebec on the 28th of January, 
composed of fifty French, and seventy Abenakis Indians. 
On the Kennebec they fell in with the Three Rivers party ; 

•Grarneau. 



FROM GRAND-FONTAINE TO MENNEVAL 91 

their force was augmented by a number of Kennebec In- 
dians and others from St. John and Penobscot, until the 
party numbered about five hundred men. 

Fa'mouth was attacked on the 26oh of May, and all the peo- 
ple who were unable to reach the fortified houses were siain. 
During the following night the inhabitants retired to Fort 
Loyal, where there was a small garrison under Captain Davis. 
A regular siege was made against the fort, and after a brave 
defence of four days, Davis was forced to surrender. The 
terms promised quarter to the inmates of Fort Loyal and a 
guard to the next English town; but no sooner was the fort 
given up than the place was turned over to pillage. About 
one hundred, men, women, and children, were murdered in 
cold blood, and Captain Davis, with three or four others, 
was carried off captive to Quebec. The fort was destroy- 
ed, and the dead bodies of the unfortunate people were 
allowed to lie unburied, mingled with the ashes of their 
homes. All that summer their mangled corpses remained ex- 
posed to the elements, and supplied the wild animals of the 
forest with ghastly feasts for many a night's hideous revel. 
In October, Major Church, then on an expedition to the east- 
ward, gathered their bones together and buried them. 

These acts of atrocity by the savages, aided and led on 
by the French, was doubtless measurably done in reprisal 
for the massacre at Lachine the year previous, which was 
attributed to English instigation. Though not a part, 
strictly speaking, of the subject of this volume, a brief des- 
cription of that tragic event will lead to a better understand- 
ing of the state of affairs at that time : we are the more in- 
clined to give it from the fact the massacre of Lachine is 
not often referred to by the authors of American histories. 

The French in Acadia and Canada on the one hand, and 
the English colonists on the other, were engaged in a ter- 
rible strife, the object of each being the total subjugation of 
the opposing party. To further their interests both at- 



92 ACADIA 

tempted to win over the various wandering Indian tribes as 
allies. In this the French, tnrough the influence of their 
priests, showed the better diplomacy. But the Iroquois, a 
strong and warlike confederacy occupying the central por- 
tion of what is now the State of New York, manifested a 
strong friendship for the English, and this preference was 
destined to be shown in an exemplary manner. 

The Governor of Canada, the Marquis de Denonville, had 
been positively informed that an inroad by the Iroquois on 
his territory had been arranged; but as no precursive signs 
of it appeared to the general eye, and as the Jesuit priests 
expressed their disbelief in such an occurrence, no defensive 
preparations were made. The summer of 1689 was well ad* 
vanced, " when the storm, long pent up, suddenly fell on 
the beautiful Island of Montreal, the garden of Canada. 
During the night of the 5th of August, amid a storm of hail 
and rain, 1400 Iroquois traversed the Lake St. Louis, and 
disembarked on the upper strand of the Island. Before day- 
break the invaders had taken then station at Lachine, in- 
vesting every house within a radius of several leagues. The 
inmates were buried in sleep, — soon to be the dreamless 
sleep that knows no waking for too many of them. The 
Iroquois only waited the signal from their leaders to fall ou. 
It is given. In short space the windows and doors of the 
dwellings are driven in; the sleepers dragged from their 
beds ; men, women, and children, all struggling in the hands 
of their butchers. Such houses as the savages cannot force 
their way into they fire ; and as the flames reach those with- 
in, they are driven forth to meet death at the threshold, 
from beings who know no pity : they even forced parents to 
throw their children into the flames. Two hundred persons 
were burned alive ; others died under prolonged tortures, 
while many were reserved to perish similarly at a future 
time." 

While these events were transpiring, it must not be sup- 



FROtf OH AND -FONTAINE TO MENNSVAL 93 

posed the New England people were idle. Extensive pre- 
parations were going on in Massachusetts, spurred on by re- 
ports of these repeated outrages of the French and Indians, 
having no less an object in view than the reduction of both 
Port Royal and Quebec, the two strongholds of the French 
in America. 

The Port Royal expedition sailed from Boston on the 9th 
of May, 1690. It consisted of a 40 gun frigate, a ship of 
16 guns, and a third of 8, with transports for the convey- 
ance of 700 men. The command was given to Sir William 
Phipps,* a native of Maine. On the 19th of the same month 
the guard at the entrance of Port Royal Basin discovered 
the hostile fleet, and fired off a mortar to alarm the people 
at the fort. During the night the guard reached the fort 
and reported the number of the enemy. Menneval, per- 
ceiving that an attack was intended, fired a cannon to call 
the people to his assistance ; only three responded to the 
summons. The garrison was small, the works were in poor 
condition and most of the cannon were dismounted. Men- 



* Phipps was born in 1650, at Pemaquid. At the age of eighteen he 
was apprenticed to a ship-carpenter; at the expiration of his indentures, 
he built a vessel which he himself navigated. He first brought his name 
into prominence by raising a quantity of treasure from a Spanish wreck. 
He had been provided with the necessary apparatus by the Governor of 
Jamaica to raise the cargo of the frigate " Alger Eose" near the Island of 
Hispaniola; and having for a long time sought the object of his voyage 
near a reef of rocks called "The Boilers," was about to abandon the 
search, when, as one of the boats was returning to the ship, a sea-feather 
was observed growing out of a rock. An Indian diver was sent to fetch 
it up, who saw several guns lying at the bottom of the sea. On the sec- 
ond descent the Indian raised a mass of silver; and Phipps carried away 
over thirty-two tons of silver bullion, besides a quantity of gold, pearls 
and jewels, over which the billows had been rolling for more than half a 
century. When the new charter of Massachusetts was granted, he was 
made Governor; being a man of hasty temper, he was summoned to Eng- 
land to answer a charge of assault; he died while there, and was buried in 
the church of St Mary, Walneath. 



94 ACAMA 

neval was advised to remove his garrison and stores rrp the 
river ; the brigantine lying at hand, was brought near the 
fort and the soldiers commenced loading her with provisions 
and ammunition. While this was going on y two priests — 
Petit and Trouve — arrived, and they induced Menneval to- 
change his plan. They persuaded him he would only in- 
crease his difficulties by abandoning his fort, and that he 
might make an advantageous capitulation. Accordingly, the 
foLowing day, as the New England fleet appeared in Port 
Koyal Basin, Phipps sent his trumpeter to summon the 
garrison to surrender. Menneval detained him and sent 
Petit to arrange terms of capitulation. Sir William demand- 
ed an unconditional surrender. This was peremptorily re- 
fused by the Priest, who proposed the following articles of 
capitulation: — 1st, That the soldiers with their arms and 
baggage, should be transported to France, in a vessel to be 
provided by the English. 2nd, That the inhabitants should 
be maintained in peaceable possession of their properties,, 
and that the honor of the women should be preserved. 3d, 
That they should be permitted to enjoy the free exercise of 
their religion, and that the property of the church should be 
protected. 

Sir William agreed to these conditions, but refused to 
commit them to writing, stating as a reason that his word 
as a General was better than any document whatever. Men- 
neval was obliged to content himself with this assurance, 
and the keys of the fortress were given up. Upon exami- 
nation the English were surprised at the weakness of the 
place, and regretted giving such favorable terms. A slight 
misunderstanding occurring, Phipps used it as a pretext to 
annul the conditions ; he disarmed the soldiers and impris- 
oned them in the church ; he confined Menneval in his own 
house and robbed him of his money and effects, and gave 
up the place to general pillage, from which neither the Priests 
nor the Church were exempted. He sent a force to reduce 



from qbaxd-tosiTAIKE to menneval 95 

La Heve and Chedabucto, where a quantity of goods belong- 
ing to the fishing company were taken ; from thence it pro- 
ceeded to Isles Perce*and Bonaventure, where the crews 
sacked and burned all the houses and destroyed the churches, 
filing 150 gunshots through the picture of St. Peter. The 
losses the French incurred through Phipps' expedition ex- 
ceeded fifty thousand crowns. 

*The summit <3f the Perce Eock covers about two acres, and is divid- 
ed into two great districts, one of which is inhabited by the gulls, and the 
cormorants dwell on the other. If either of these trespass on the other's 
territory (which occurs every fifteen minutes, at least), a battle ensues, 
the shrill cries of hundreds or thousands of birds rend the air, great clouds 
of combatants hover over the plateau, and peace is only restored by the 
retreat of the invader. When the conflict is between large flocks, it is a 
scene worthy of close notice, and sometimes becomes highly exciting. 

Many years ago the Eock was ascended by two fishermen, and the way 
once being found, scores of men clambered up by ropes and carried away 
the eggs and young birds, finding the older ones so tame that they had to 
be lifted off the nests. This vast aviary would have been depopulated 
long ere this, but that the Perce magistrates passed a law forbidding the 
ascent of the Eock. 



VILLEBON ON THE ST. JOHN. 



Not long after the events related in the last chapter, and 
while, as we may suppose, the hapless, helpless Acadians 
were brooding over their misfortunes, a French ship, the 
Union, sailed into Port Royal harbor. She had on board 
a notable Frenchman named Villebon, a brother of Menne- 
val. He had come to place himself at the head of the In- 
dian tribes. The vessel also brought out fifty stand of 
arms, some recruits for the garrison, and a quantity of pres- 
ents for the savages. Villebon, having been told the story 
of the capture of the fort, and learning the English were 
still on the coast, and might return if they heard of his ar- 
rival, he, after consultation, decided that his best plan was 
to proceed to the River St. John, and occupy the old fort at 
Jemseg. He accordingly crossed to St. John, and sailed up 
that 3'iver to prepare Fort Jemseg for the goods encrusted 
to ins care, leaving orders for the Union to follow in a few 
days. 

Scarcely had Villebon left Port Royal when two "piratio- 
al ships" made their appearance before the fort, the crews 
of which landed and commenced to pillage the piace. Near 
(he entrance of the basin on the GranviLe side, they burned 
Fix teen houses: at the fort they set fire to twelve houses, 
^slaughtered the cattle, hanged some of the inhabitants, and 
deliberately burned up one family wnom they had shuc up 
f,o prevent their escape. Seizing all the plunder they could 



V1LLEB0N ON THE FT. JOHN 97 

gather, including the Union and her cargo, the "piratical 
vessels" sailed away. 

In this emergency Villebon acted with vigor and discre- 
tion. Having collected the Indians, he told them of the 
capture of the presents intended for them, exhorted them 
to be faithful to the French King, and promised to embark 
for France at once, and would return again in the Spring 
with better presents than those he had lost. To this they 
replied that Onanthio (the name they had given to the King 
of France), having already supplied them with ammunition, 
they were perfectly satisfied, and that they were more griev- 
ed for the loss of the vessel and stores on his account, than 
for the presents destined for them ; and promised that dur- 
ing his absence they would give a good account of the Eng- 
lish. 

At this time a squadron was fitted out against Quebec, 
consisting of thirty-five sail, and Sir Wm. Phipps was nomi- 
nated to command the expedition. Two thousand militia- 
men embarked in it. The spirit and enterprise of which 
this expedition was the result, was remarkable, and its war- 
like array made the Bostonians exultant : the wildest hopes 
were entertained of what it was capable of accomplishing. 
The Boston land expedition under Winthrop, which was to 
await the arrival of Phipps in middle Lauren tian waters af- 
ter the expected capture of Quebec, arrived at Lake George 
and encamped on its picturesque banks : the plan of opera- 
tions being for the two forces to ascend conjointly to Mon- 
treal. But an epidemic broke out among Winthrop's has- 
tily raised corps, which speedily spread to his savage allies, 
and there being, too, a lack of canoes in which to transport 
the men, there was no alternative but to beat a retreat. 

The Bostonian fleet appeared in sight of Quebec on the 
morning of the 16 th of October. Sir William Phipps sent 
an officer and flag with a summons to surrender. " He was 
met on the shore, and led blindfold through the city, by a 



y» ACADIA 

long and devious course to the castle ; the men on duty 
taking care to make as much clangor with their weapons as 
possible." M. de Frontenac returned the following for an- 
swer : <k Tell your master that the mouths of my cannon will 
forthwith bear my answer to the summons he has sent me.'* 
The batteries of the lower town soon opened on the fleet. 
Some of the first shots brought down the flag of Phipp's 
own vessel, which was fished up by the French, and after- 
ward suspended to the ceiling of the Quebec cathedral, as a 
trophy, and there remained until that edifice was consumed, 
during the siege of 1759. Phipps bombarded the place for 
several days, but not making satisfactory progress, he rais- 
ed the siege and returned to Boston. On the return voyage 
one vessel was wrecked on the desolate coast of Anticosti, 
where most of the crew who reached the shore afterwards 
died of cold and hunger ;* other vessels foundered at sea. 
Both belligerents had suffered heavily, and neither had gain- 
ed or lost a foot of territory. Both sides suffered a two-fold 
loss — the countries lost the labor of the men who formed the 
armies, and were heavily taxed to pay the expenses of the 
war. Privateers were making remunerative captures of mer- 
chant vessels on the high seas, and families on the frontier 
were obliged to take refuge in the towns to escape from their 
savage enemies. Such were the circumstances in which the 
campaign closed. While these dark clouds hung threaten- 
ingly over the early colonists, the English were guilty of an 
act of treacherous folly, a deed which the emissaries of France 
were not slow to make use of to influence the minds of the 
Indians, already prejudiced against their English neighbors. 
Captain Chubb, commander at Pemaquid, had arranged with 
the Penobscot tribe for an exchange of prisoners. The In* 



* Only five of this boat's crew survived the winter on the island. Af- 
ter the ice broke tip these brave fellows started in a row boat for Boston, 
900 miles distant, and after a passage of forty-two days they reached theis 
homes in safety. 



VILLEBON ON THE ST. JOHN 99 

dians were induced to give up five English prisoners to him, 
and he promised to send to Boston for the live they desired 
in return. With this arrangement they appeared to be 
pleased, and Chubb proposed a conference in sight of the 
fort. It was agreed that nine of the English and nine In- 
dians should meet unarmed at the place selected. The latter, 
being considerably under the influence of Chubb's liquor, 
did not observe that a party of soldiers had surrounded them, 
nor were they aware that the nine Englishmen had pistols 
concealed about their persons. At a given signal the Indi- 
ans were attacked, four of them killed and three made pris- 
oners, only two escaping. It is needless to enlarge upon 
the character of the transaction, which in its consequences 
wrought lasting injury to the English; for the story of the 
treachery of Chubb, with all such instances, was told at the 
camp fires of every tribe from Cape Breton to Lake Superior. 
At this period the English set up a claim to the territory 
of Acadia, and, under the new charter of Massachusetts, had 
it annexed to that colony. By way of maintaining a juris- 
diction over the country, they sent out an English ship of 
war to intercept the annual supply that Villebon was in the 
habit of receiving from France, at his fort on the St. John. 
This ship, the /Sorrel, sailed from Boston with orders to 
cruise off St. John's harbor, and await the French vessel. 
The frigate appeared in due time, and a severe engagement 
ensued, in which the Sorrel was beaten off, and the French 
landed their stores in triumph. The Sorrel, reinforced with 
the frigate Newport and another vessel, was sent upon the 
same service the following year. While lying in the harbor 
of St. John.D'Iberville, the Governor of Quebec, arrived with 
two men of war. The vessels immediately engaged, and the 
Newport surrendered. The others escaped under cover of 
a fog. Reinforced with this prize, D'Iberville and Villebon 
proceeded to Penobscot, where they were joined by Baron 
St. Castin and two hundred Penobscot Indians, and the aug- 



100 ACADIA 

mented force immed:ately invested Pemaquid. The garri- 
son at thatp'aee, alarmed at this formidable array of force, 
and fearful of the consequences of falling into the hands of 
the savages, after a resistance, surrendered on promises of 
protection. On entering the fort the Indians discovered 
one of their people in irons, and so exasperated were they at 
the account he gave of his sufferings, that they fell upon the 
English and murdered several before DTberville could tale 
measures to prevent them. A fleet was immediately sent 
out from Boston to intercept the French, but they had de- 
molished the fort that had cost so much, and were already 
in full retreat. 

New England at once determined upon measures of re- 
taliation, and a force of five hundred men, under command 
of Captain Church, was sent from Boston into Acadia. Ee 
sailed direct for Beaubassin, which has since received the 
name of Cumberland. The terrified inhabitants, as usual, 
abandoned their houses and fied to the woods on the first ap- 
proach of the enemy. During the pursuit, Bourgeois, one of 
the most respected Acadians, surrendered, and demanded 
protection for himself and family, which was granted. Bour- 
geois was desired to give notice to his countrymen that ail 
who should return would be well received. Many of them 
were induced to return, but no sooner had they assembled 
than they were ordered to "join the force of Captain Church 
in pursuit of the savages." On their refusing to comply, 
their houses were burned, their dikes broken down, their 
cattle and sheep destroyed, and their effects plundered by 
the soldiers. Charlevoix informs us that " Bourgeois pro- 
duced a proclamation of Sir William Phipps, in which as- 
surance of protection was given to the inhabitants so long 
as they remained faithful subjects to King William, and that 
Church being made acquainted with it, had ordered their 
property to be respected ; but that while he and his officers 
were being entertained by Bourgeois, the soldiers, who wara, 



VTLXEB0N ON THE ST. JOHN 101 

dispersed among the inhabitants, conducted themselves as 
if they had been in a conquered country." Ee also adds 
""that many of the people, distrusting his promises, refused 
to surrender, and that it was fortunate they did so, for an 
order of Erontinac, the Governor of Canada, having been 
soon after discovered posted up in the chapel, the English 
treated them as rebels, — set fire to the church, and reduced 
to ashes the few houses they had previously spared." It is 
difficult to conceive wiiat provocation these simple Acadians 
had given to merit such harsh treatment — thus stripped of 
home and the neoessaries of life, ^n the verge, too, of an Ac- 
adian winter; or how they could be termed rebels, when, 
within less than a century, they had changed masters no less 
than fourteen times. 

During the return voyage to Massachusetts, Church was 
met by a reinforcement under Hawthorne, and the expedi- 
tion was turned back to besiege Yiilebon's fort at Nashwaak, 
on the St John. The attack, which might have been suc- 
cessful had it been attempted a month before, was doomed 
to failure, Yillebon had industriously added to his forces, 
improved and strengthened the defenses of the place, and 
was prepared for the affray. On the 16th of October Ville- 
bon heard that the English were in force below; and on the 
evening before the enemy's ships hove in sight, he address- 
ed the garrison in stirring terms, and encouraged them to 
resist to the last Early in the morning the English made 
their appearance, and commenced the erection of a battery 
on the south side o£ the river opposite the fort. A lively 
cannonade soon commenced, which was only ended by the 
approach of night. Yillebon prevented the English from 
lighting lires by discharges of grape, and they suffered much 
from cold. The cannonade was continued through the fol- 
lowing day, and at night the English lighted fires over a 
large extent of ground and decamped under cover of the 
darkness. No one has been able to explain the cause of so 



102 



ACADIA 



feeble an effort, which may have been owing to dissensions 
between Church and Hawthorne. With this ended the war 
from 1690 to 1696, which is generally known as King Wil- 
liam's War, and by the treaty of Ryswiek, Acadia was once 
more restored to France, 




FALL OF POKT ROYAL. 



The Peace of Byswick was scarcely proclaimed, ere the 
French manifested their intention to make themselves sole 
masters of the fishery, and to # exclude the English from any 
part of the territory to the eastward of the Kennebec. In 
pursuance of these claims, Villebon sent a message to the 
Governor of Massachusetts to the following purport: — "I 
am expressly ordered by his Majesty to maintain the bounds 
between New England and us, which are from Kennebec 
River to its mouth, leaving the course of the river free to 
both nations, and I desire that you will no longer consider 
the Indians there your subjects. I am informed that you 
have divers fishermen on the coast, and that you permit 
your people to trade in the French ports. You may rest 
assured, sir, that I shall seize all the English, who shall be 
found fishing. or trading there, for you cannot be ignorant 
that it is plainly prohibited by the treaty between the two 
crowns, a copy of which you, yourself, forwarded to me. 
Monsieur de Bonaventure has also sent you some of your 
fishing vessels which he has taken, and acquainted you that 
if they presume to trade on the coast he shall consider them 
tt3 lawful prizes." 

In the year 1700 the French government decided to aban- 
don the forts on the St. John, but before the order could be 
carried into effect Villebon died. He was succeeded by Vil- 
lieu, who was the following year relieved of his command 



104 ACAom 

by M. de Brouillon y formerly Governor of Flacentia?. Tin's 
last named governor commenced his administration with a 
great show of zeal and activity,, demolished the fort at the* 
mouth of the St, John River, recommended the fort at Port 
Royal to be built of stone, advocated the erection of a re*- 
doubt at the entrance of the Basin, besides proposing other 
plans for the better establishment of the French authority 
in Acadia. What is now known as Queen Anne's War was 
begun in 1702, otherwise called the war of the Spanish suc- 
cession, which involved many of the leading nations of 
Europe. England and France could not remain long at war 
without their respective colonies in America finding a pre- 
text to open hostilities with one another. Brouillon was 
accused of encouraging piracies against the English ship- 
ping, — La Heve being made the headquarters of the free- 
booters, — and of using the proceeds in instigating; the na- 
tives to acts of hostility against the people of New England, 
An armament was fitted out in Boston, comprising three 
men-of-war and fourteen transports,, having on board 550 
soldiers, under command of Colonel Church, for the purpose, 
as Haliburton puts it, "of ravaging the French settlements in 
Nova Scotia!" The instructions given to Church by the 
Massachusetts authorities, after authorizing him to take 
command of the force destined for Nova Scotia T orders him 
u to have prayers on ship daily, to sanctify the Sabbath, and 
io forbid all profane swearing and drunkenness." The next 
article authorizes him to burn, plunder, destroy, and get 
spoil wherever he could effect a landing. The Puritan 
fathers also offered a bounty of one hundred pounds for each 
male Indian over twelve years of age, if scalped : one hun- 
dred and live pounds if taken prisoner ; fifty pounds for each 
woman and child scalped, and fifty pounds when brought 
in alive ! * 



* The degree of refinement which characterized these early wars, is 
further illustrated in the following: "Villieu, atone time Governor of 



FALL OF PORT ROYAL 105 

Church first sailed up the river Penobscot, where he took 
a number of prisoners, among them the daughter of Baron St- 
Castin and her children. From thence the boats proceeded 
up the Passamaquoddy, destroying the settlements and per- 
petrating several acts of outrage upon the unoffending in- 
habitants. Here the expedition was divided — the men-of- 
war steering for Port Royal, and the whale boat * for Minas 
(now Horton). At the latter place the inhabitants offered 
some resistance, and the English thereupon totally destroy- 
ed the populous village, plundered the inhabitants, broke 
down the di^es, made several prisoners, and joined the main 
force in the harbor of Port Royal. After some ineffectual 
attempts to carry the place, the project was abandoned, 
Church evidently having little taste for hard fighting, and 
so bore away to Chignecto, which country he had ravaged 
eight years before, and whose reduction involved less mili- 
tary force. Here he burned twenty houses, killed one hun- 
dred and twenty horned cattle, and did the unfortunate .in- 
habitants all the harm in his power. Then he returned to 
Boston to receive the thanks of the Legislature for his ser- 
vices. 

An incident illustrating the character of these expeditions 
is given ir» Chmvh's own words, in his dispatch to the Gov- 
ernor. A swall island on Passamaquoddy Bay was invaded 
by the forces under Col. Church, at night. There was no 
resistance, the inhabitants all gave up. "But, looking over 
a little run, I saw something look black just by me : stopped 
and heard a talking; stepped over and saw a little hut or 
wigwam, with a crowd of people round about it, which was 
contrary to my former directions. I asked them what they 
were doing ? They replied, there were some of the enemy 
in a house, and would not come out. I asked what house ? 



Acadia, presented to Fronteuac, the Governor of Canada, a string o* 
English scalps;— a fine present for one French gentleman to bestow up- 
on another." 

g* 



106 ACADIA 

They said, 'a bark house.' I hastily bid them pull it down, 
and knock them on the head, never asking whether they 
were French or Indians, they being all enemies alike tome. 11 

There were some in Boston who did not approve of the 
acts of the Squaw-killer, for his historian says, "after Church 
came home, some evil-minded person did their endeavors to 
injure him for taking away life unlawfully." 

In the year 1704 an expedition from Canada, consisting of 
French and Indians, under Major Rouville, attacked Deer- 
field, on the Connecticut River, applied the torch, killed 
forty of the inhabitants, and carried one hundred and twelve 
away to the wilderness. Among the captives was Eev. John 
Williams, the village pastor, whose little daughter, after a 
long residence with the Indians, became attached to them, 
and married a Mohawk Chief. The minister's wife, and 
some others, who were not able to travel as rapidly as suit- 
ed the Indians, were killed. On his arrival at Canada, Mr. 
Williams was treated with respect by the French, and was 
afterward ransomed and flowed to return home. The chief 
object of the attack on Deeriield seems to have been to carry 
off the bell that hung in William's Church. That bell was 
purchased, the previous year, for the Church of Saut St. 
Louis, at Caughwanaga, near Montreal. The vessel in which 
it was brought over from Havre was captured by a New 
England privateer, and the bell was purchased for the Deer- 
field meeting-house. Father Nicholas, of Caughwanaga, 
accompanied the expedition, and the bell was carried in tri- 
umph to its original destination, where it still remains. 

Brouillon, the Acadian Governor, went to France in 1704, 
and Bonaventure was left in command. Brouillon's time 
in France seems to have been occupied in justifying his own 
conduct while in Acadia, and in making accusations against 
others. He set out on his return late in the following sum- 
mer, but died on board ship off the harbor of Chebucto 
His body was committed to the deep, but his heart w n " car- 



PALL OF PORT ROYAL 10? 

ried to Port Royal, where it was interred with military hon- 
ors. Such was the hatred with which this man was held, 
that it was said of him "the public were unable to conceal 
their joy at his loss." 

In 1706, M. de Subercase was appointed Governor of Ac- 
adia, and arrived at Port Royal. He proved the opposite 
in character, to Brouillon, and was much beloved ; for the 
first time, in many a long year, harmony reigned in the 
colony. Says Hannay: "The ponderous volumes which 
contain the correspondence from Acadia at that period, 
afford a curious illustration of the condition of a small 
community, isolated from the rest of the world, outside of 
the great movements of the age, and whose main business 
seems to have been to plot against and slander each other. 
The French minister, who had charge of Acadian affairs, re- 
ceived letters from governors, judges, officers, priests and 
private citizens, and there is scarcely a letter from the time 
of Menneval to that of Subercase, which is not filled with 
complaints of the conduct of others. One of the most com- 
mon complaints against the Governors of Acadia, was, that 

they traded secretly with the English But no class of 

men in Acadia had more charges perferred against them 

than the priests No doubt a false zeal frequently led 

them to mingle in temporal affairs with which they had no 
concern, but every one will desire to believe that their con- 
duct was generally exemplary, and that they had the real 
interests of the people at. heart." 

There was great activity at this time among the privateers, 
both French and English, and the number of prisoners on 
each side became burdensome. Frequent voyages were 
made between Boston and Port Royal for the exchange of 
prisoners; it was surmised that this was made a pretext for 
carrying on an unlawful trade with the enemy. Even Gov- 
ernor Dudley did not escape being accused of implication, 
but was exonerated by the Legislature. 



108 ACADIA 

Governor Dudley now determined to show his zeal for the 
interests of New England by a strong- effort for the capture 
of Port Eoyal, and with it ail Acadia. Massachusetts had 
long coveted this beautiful country, and therefore procured 
the assent of the parent government to raise a force suffi- 
cient for the conquest, and a pledge that if conquered, it 
should never again be ceded to France. 

Accordingly, in 1707, one thousand men were raised in 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and the 
chief command given to Colonel March ; and on the 17th of 
May of that year, they arrived before Port Eoyal, under 
convoy of two men-of-war. Subercase proved himself an 
active and efficient officer, and so disposed the forces under 
his command as to check the English in every attack. In 
this he was assisted by a son of Baron St. Castin, who was 
there to command the Indians. The siege was abandoned 
after it had lasted eleven days, during which no susceptible 
progress had been made. 

Col. March wrote from Canso of the failure of the expe- 
dition, tidings of which had already reached Massachusetts. 
Gov. Dudley was determined that another effort should be 
made before so fine a body of troops should be allowed to 
disperse. He ordered that no soldier should land from the 
transports under pain of death ; and sending March one 
hundred new recruits, with three commissioners to super- 
vise the conduct of the expedition, directed an immediate 
return to Port Royal. The place was the second time in- 
vested on the 20th of August. The English " unfortunately 
fell into several ambuscades, in which they suffered severe- 
ly;" a violent epidemic disorder broke out among them, and 
it was determined in general council, to make good their re- 
1 reat before they were so weakened as to render embarka- 
tion a matter of difficulty. On the 1st of September the 
New England troops embarked, and sailed away from Port 
Royal, where they twice met with such a mortifying want of 



' PALL OF PORT ROYAL 109 

success. But, as the sequel will show, the warlike spirit of 
the Puritan fathers was still undaunted. 

During the year 1709, Captain Vetch, who had been fre- 
quently to Acadia on trading- voyages, went to England to 
solicit the aid of the parent government in reducing that 
province. He returned home with the assurance that a 
fleet would be sent out to co-operate with the colonies in 
an expedition against Quebec, and bore a command from 
Her Majesty, Queen Anne, that they should enlist troops 
for that purpose. Five regiments were to be sent out from 
England, with a squadron of ships, to be joined by twelve 
hundred colonists at Boston, — the united forces to proceed 
agaiiist Quebec ; an additional force of fifteen hundred men 
were to march by way of the lakes and attack Montreal. 
The latter force advanced to the place of rendezvous on 
Lake Champlain, and the New England troops were assem- 
bled at Boston at the appointed time, but the promised Eng- 
lish fleet did not appear. The vessels had been put in read- 
ness, and the British regulars were on the point of embark- 
ing, when the exigencies of the European war diverted 
the troops to another destination. Great was the disap- 
pointment to the Colonists, and the necessary expenses 
of the proposed expedition bore heavily upon the impov- 
erished state of their finances. 

Another expedition was resolved upon the following year, 
having for its object the reduction of Port Royal, which 
was deemed a more feasible enterprise than the capture of 
Quebec. Accordingly, on the 18th of September, a squad- 
ron of four men-of-war, and twenty-nine transports, set sail 
from Boston under command of Col. Nicholson, arriving at 
Port Royal on the 24th of the same month. 

The troops consisted of one regiment of Marines from 
Europe, and four regiments of Provincials raised in New 
England, but commissioned by the Queen, and armed at the 
royal expense. At the entrance of the harbor of Port Roy- 



110 ACADIA 

a! one of the transports was wrecked, and twenty-six men, 
with all the stores on board, were lost. The English forces 
were landed without opposition, Suberease, the Governor 
had but two hundred and sixty effectual men, and most of 
these he was afraid to trust out of the fort, lest they should 
desert to the English. As Col. Nicholson was marching up 
toward the fort, several soldiers were shot by the inhabit- 
ants from behind fences ; and for several days, while pre- 
liminaries to the siege were being made, the French contin- 
ued to throw shot and shell from the fort 

On the 29th, Suberease sent out a flag of truce, praying 
that the ladies of the fort might leave to a place of greater 
safety. By the 1st of October, three batteries were opened 
within one hundred yards of the fort. The English contin- 
ued to work in their trenches, though severely cannonaded 
by the French, until the evening of the 10th, when they be- 
gan to fire bombs, two of which fell into the fort. During 
the night fifty of the inhabitants and several soldiers desert- 
ed : those remaining presented a petition to Suberease, ask- 
ing him to surrender. He resolved to call a council of his- 
ofiicers to consider what should be done, ".^council of war 
never fights ; " a cessation of arms was agreed upon, and 
the terms of capitulation soon settled. On the 13th of 
October the articles were signed, surrendering the fort to 
Her Majesty, Queen Anne of Great Britain. The garrison 
were permitted to march out with their arms and baggage, 
with drums beating and colors flying, and were to be pro- 
vided with transportation to Rochelle, in France. The 
officers were allowed to take with them all their effects ; the 
Canadians had leave to retire to Canada ; the furniture and 
ornaments of the chapel were to be respected, and the in- 
habitants within cannon shot of the fort were to be protect- 
ed. This article was probably intended to protect those of 
the people who had fired upon the English on their ap- 
proach to the fort, and afterward became the subject of con- 



TALL, Of POUT ROYAL 111 

siderable controversy. The English lost only fifteen men 
in their expedition, beside the twenty-six who were wrecked 
on the transport Col. Nicholson left a garrison of two 
hundred and fifty volunteers, under the command of Col. 
Yeteh, who had been appointed Governor of that country, 
and returned with the fleet and army to Boston, where he 
arrived on the 26 th of October. Thus was the tri-coior of 
France torn from the fortress of Port Koyal, above which it 
had waved for more than a hundred years, over which it was 
destined never more to float as an emblem of authority. 
The expense incurred by New England amounted to £23,- 
000, which was afterward reimbursed by Parliament. 

The easy success of the English forces at Port Eoyal 
caused an expedition to be fitted out against Canada. Fif- 
teen hundred colonial troops, exclusive of a large body of 
Indians, were placed under command of Colonel Nicholson, 
who were to march against Montreal. At the same time an 
English fleet, comprising fifteen men-of-war, and forty trans- 
ports containing 5,000 veteran soldiers, under Admiral Walk- 
er, was to operate against Quebec. During a terrible Au- 
gust storm, while they were ascending the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, the fleet drove down on the Egg Islands. The frig- 
ates were saved from the shoals, but several transports were 
wrecked with 1,500 men on board, and 900 brave fellows, 
who had passed scathless through the sanguinary battles of 
Blenheim and Eamillies, perished miserably on the desolate 
shores of the St. Lawrence. This disaster was the cause of 
the total failure of the expedition.* 



* The French ships, which visited the islands soon after, found the 
wrecks of eight vessels, and the bodies of nearly three thousand drowned 
persons, lying along the shore. They recognized whole companies of the 
Queen's Giiarcls, distinguished by their red coats; and several Scotch fam- 
ilies, aracug them seven women, all clasping each other's hands. The 
French colony could hut recognize a Providence which watched singu- 
larly over its preservation, and which, not satisfied with rescuing it from 



112 ACADIA 

Colonel Yetch sent a deputation to Vandrleul, Governor 
of Canada, with the message ''that if he did not restrain the 
savages under his control from further incursions into Xew 
England, the English would take revenge for every act of 
hositility committed by them upon the defenseless Acadians- 
now in their power." The French Governor returned an- 
swer — "if these threats were put in execution, nothing 
should prevent him from delivering up every English pris- 
oner into the hands of the Indians."' 

The court of France at last began to awaken to a sense of 
the real value of the province they had lost. The King 
could not find a person willing to take charge of an expedi- 
tion for its recovery. Yaudrieul had appointed Baron St. 
Castin* to the command of the Indians of Nova Scotia, with 
instructions to preserve their loyalty to the French King 
as far as possible. This personage raised a considerable 
body of Indians, and had successfully attacked an English 
parry in what is now Xew Brunswick, and was marching to 
the attack of Port Royal. The commanding British officers 
at Port Royal, took three priests and five of the principal 
inhabitants and shut them up as hostages, proclaiming that 
"upon the least insurrectionary movement, he would execute 
these innocent persons in retaliation." As an additional 
measure of safety, he undertook to force the dispersed in- 
habitants to swear allegiance to the English. This was 
peculiarly distasteful to the French Acadians, and they re- 
solved not to submit. A body of sixty men was sent out 
under Captain Pigeon, to enforce this regulation, and re- 
duce the disaffected to obedience. They had not proceeded 
far when tney were surprised by a body of Indians, who 



the greatest danger it had yet run, had enriched it with the spoil? of an 
enemy whom it had not the pains to conquer; hence they rendered h\n\ 
most heartfelt thanks. (Charlevoix. ) 

*This was the Baron's half-breed son. 



FALL OF PORT ROYAL 113 

"killed the fort major, the engineer, and all the boat's crew, 
and took from thirty to forty English prisoners. The scene 
of this disaster is almost twelve miles from the fort, on the 
road to Halifax, and is still called Bloody Creek. The suc- 
cess of this tempted the inhabitants to take up arms, and 
five hundred of them, with as many Indians under St. Cas- 
tin, embodied themselves to attack the fort." Bu; not hav- 
ing an efficient officer to take chief command, they had to 
abandon the interprise and disperse. On the 11th of April, 
1713, the treaty of Utrecht was signed, and France and 
England were once more at peace. By this treaty it was 
stipulated that "all Xova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended 
within its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal, 
now caiied Annapolis," were yielded and made over to the 
Queen of Great Britain and to her crown forever. 



TKOUBLES OF THE FRENCH. 



By the treaty of Utrecht, Acadia and Newfoundland were 
ceded to England, — France retaining Cape Breton, Prince 
Edward's and other islands in the St. Lawrence Gulf. The 
way was thus left clear for France to erect other military 
establishments by way of retaining practical control of the 
fisheries of those waters, — an opportunity of which she was 
not slow to avail herself in the founding of a great fortress 
on the shores of English Harbor, on the island of Cape Bre- 
ton, which afterward became the widely-famed and potent 
Louisbourg • 

The population of "AcadV at this time was in all about 
two thousand five hundred souls. It was composed, al- 
most exclusively, of French who were strict adherents to the 
Roman Catholic faith. By the stern decrees of war, military 
domination had passed into the hands of a foreign power, 
and the French of Nova Scotia beheld a fortress in their 
very midst, that had been built by French capital, now gar- 
risoned with English soldiers, to whom they must bow sub- 
missively, and aid in their support. This was at that peri- 
od of the world's history when the sanguinary wars of re- 
ligion were fiercely raging, and when the bitter jealousies 
and antagonisms of the contending factions were at their 
hight. Both Romanist and Protestant professed to believe 
that they would do God service by destroying all who would 
not give assent to their form of religion — which contributed 



TROUBLES OF THE FRENCH 115 

an increased rancor to the contest. We have, then, a Prot- 
estant English garrison holding military domination by con- 
quest over a French Catholic subjugated people; that there 
should be a lack of unity of feeling and interest, and a 
mutual distrust and hatred of one another, is not strange. 

Though nominally the subjects of Great Britain, the Aca- 
dians could not be expected to forget the land of their 
fathers. A continued intercourse was kept up between An- 
napolis, Ivlinas, Chignecto, and the adjacent settlements, — 
each locality having its Popish priest, who was largely en- 
trusted with the guidance of their temporal affairs. 

The influence that these priests exercised over the simple 
Acadians is admitted to have been very great. They acted 
under orders from a central power at Quebec ; but a full 
cognizance of the nature of the instructions that emanated 
from the Cathedral of Notre Dame was never given to the 
outside world. Our information is derived mostly from 
English sources, poisoned with a jealousy of conflicting inter- 
ests, and prejudiced with a belief in Papist perndiousness. 
There is abundant evidence that some of the charges against 
the priests were well founded; and the English seem to 
have adopted the principle that the guilty in part, were as a 
natural sequence, guilty of the whole. The mistaken zeal 
and shortsightedness of such of the clergy as, forgetful of 
their higher calling, stooped to instigate measures against 
the English, only wrought injury and final ruin on the peo- 
ple for whom they plotted. 

A short time subsequent to the signing of the treaty of 
Utrecht, Queen Anne wrote to Nicholson, then Governor of 
Nova Scotia, as follows : — 

" Whereas our good brother the most Christian King, 
hath, at our desire, released from imprisonment on board 
his galley, such of his subjects as were detained there on 
account of their professing the Protestant religion ; We 
being willing to snow by some mark of our favor towards 



116 ACADIA 

his subjects how kind we take his compliance therein, have 
therefore thought ht hereby to signify our will and pleasure 
to you, that you permit such of them as have any lands or 
tenements in the places under our government in Acadia 
and Newfoundland, that have been or are to be yielded to 
us by virtue of the late Treaty of Peace, and are willing to 
continue our subjects, to retain and enjoy their said lands 
and tenements without any molestation, as fully and freely 
as other of our subjects do, or may possess their lands or 
estates, or to sell tne same if they shail ratiier cacose to re- 
move elsewhere. And for so doing this snail be your war- 
rant." 

When Port Royal was taken it was stipulated that such 
as lived within a league of the fort should remain upon their 
estates two years, on taking the oath of allegiance. By the 
treaty of Utrecht the subjects of the King of France were to 
"have liberty to remove themseives within a year to any 
other p^ace, with all their movable effects. But those who 
are willing to remain, and to be subject to the King of Great 
Britain, are to enjoy the free exercise of their religion ac- 
cording to the usage of the Church of Rome, as far as the 
laws oi Great Britain do allow the same." 

In 1714 Governor Nicholson proposed to the Acadians 
either to become subjects of the British Crown, or remove 
in compliance with the terms of the treaty. Upon every ap- 
plication that was made to them for that purpose they firm* 
ly refused to take the oath of allegiance. They however ex- 
pressed their readiness to accept an oath that would not re- 
quire them to take up arms either against the King of Eng' 
land or France, or against the Indians. 

The following is from Paul Mascerene to British Lords 
of Trade: "Canso Island has been found so convenient 
and advantageous for catching and curing codfish, that of 
late it has been the resort of numbers of the English, as it 
was of French before the seizure made by Captain Smart. 
This stroke was so grievous to the French^ who were con.- 



TROUBLES OF THE FRENCH 117 

cerned in this loss, that seeing* that they could not obtain 
the satisfaction they demanded, they have been at work all 
this spring, and incited the Indians to assemble at Canso 
and to surprise the English who were secure!}- fishing there, 
and having killed and wounded some, drove the rest off the 
sea. By means of this hurry and confusion whilst the In- 
dians were plundering the dry goods, the French were rob- 
bing the fish and transporting it away, till the English, hav- 
ing recovered themselves, sent after them, and seized several 
of their shallops laden with English fish and other plunder, 
and made the robbers prisoners."" 

Governor Phillips, residing at Annapolis, writing to Board 
of Trade, complains " that the French councils tend toward 
exciting the Indians into a general war, but that the Indians 
(who are not without cunning) cannot be brought to a dec- 
laration of war because the French cannot openly join them 
and are determined to defer it to another opportunity." 

On Sunday, the 25th of September, 1726, Lieutenant- 
Governor Armstrong met a deputation of the inhabitants of 
Annapolis at the Flag Bastion. His Honor, the Lieutenant- 
Governor, *'told them he was glad to see them, and hoped 
they had so far considered their own and their children's 
future advantages, that they were come with a full resolu- 
tion to take the oath of fidelity like good subjects 

Whereupon, at the request of some of the inhabitants, a 
French translation of the oath required to be taken was read 
to them. Upon which, some of them desired that a clause 
whereby they may not be obliged to carry arms, might be 
inserted. The Governor told them that they had no reason 
to fear any such thing as that, it being contrary to the laws 
of Great Britain, that a Roman Catholic should serve in the 
army. His Majesty having so many faithful Protestant 
subjects first to provide for, and that ail His Majesty re- 
quired of them was to be faithful subjects, not to join with 
any enemy, but for their own interest to discover ail trait- 



"118 ACADIA 

orous and evil designs, plots and conspiracies, anywise found 
against His Majesty's subjects and government, and so 
peaceably and quietly to enjoy and improve their estates* 
But they upon the motion made as aforesaid still refusings 
and desiring the same clause, governed by the advice of 
the Council granted the same to be writ upon the margin 
of the French translation in order to get them over by de- 
grees. Whereupon they took and subscribed the same both 
in French and English."* We may add that this paper did 
not receive the approval of the Secretary of State, and the 
act of Armstrong was annulled ; and also the singular fact 
that neither the original document nor a copy of it can be 
found. In consequence of this exemption they were after- 
wards known as the " Neutral French," 

Governor Armstrong subsequently sent Captain Bennett 
to Minas and Ensign Phillips to Beaubassin, two of the 
principal settlements, to administer oaths to the inhabitants. 
"They are both returned," he says in his report to the Sec- 
retary of State, "with the said inhabitants answers and res- 
olutions not to take any oath but to their Notre Ban Roy 
de France^ as they express it." 

Enough has been said to show the causes at work, which 
were, in a quarter of a century, to end in the utter overthrow 
of the French people in Acadia ; — the distrust of the Eng- 
lish in the protestations of innocence on the part of the 
French, and the determination of the latter not to subscribe 
to any oath binding themselves to take up arms against their 
own country and kindred 

One of the most singular accusations brought against 
the French at that time was, that "they had told the Indi- 
ans the English were the people who crucified our Savior." 
This story was current throughout New England at that 



*Nova Scotia Archives. 
fOur good King of France. 






TROUBLES OF THE FRENCH 119 

day, and the cruelties of the Indians often attributed to it. 
Haliburton claims there is nothing to support such a charge. 
About this time there existed on the banks of the Kenne- 
bec a beautiful Indian village named Norridgwock. An 
aged missionary resided among them, who had been their 
teacher for a period of forty years. The village contained 
a chapel, and was defended by a rude fortification. This 
Romanist was highly accomplished, and his life literally one 
long martyrdom ; being a correspondent and friend of the 
Governor of Canada, the English believed he might be the 
instigator of hostilities of the Indians. Under this impres- 
sion they fitted out a force from Massachusetts, consisting 
of upwards of two-hundred men, with orders to attack the 
village. This force arrived at Norridgwock, completely tak- 
ing the Indians by surprise. Charlevoix relates that the 
Priest Ralle, though unprepared, was unintimidated, and 
showed himself at once in front, in hopes of diverting the 
attention of the enemy to himself and screen his be.oved 
flock by the voluntary offering of his own life. As soon as 
he was seen he was saluted with a great shout and a shower 
of bullets, and fell together with seven Indians who had 
rushed out of their tents to defend him with their bodies. 
When the pursuit had ceased, the Indians returned to find 
their Missionary dead at the foot of the village cross, his 
body perforated with balls, his scalp taken, his skull broken 
with blows of hatchets, his mouth filled with mud, the bones 
of his legs broken and otherwise mangled. The Indians 
buried him on the site of the chapel,* that edifice having 
been hewn down with its crucifix, and whatever else the as- 
sailants considered emblems of idolatry. They had likewise 
destroyed the buildings and pillaged the encampment. Now 
beneath its ruins, was interred the body of him who had the 



*The bell of Father Ralle's little chapel escaped, and is still preserved 
in the cabinet of Bowdoin College, Maine. 



120 ACADIA 

evening before celebrated the rites of his religion within its 
walls. " The death of Ralle caused great rejoicing in Mas- 
sachusetts, and when Harmon, who was senior in command 
carried the scalps of his victims to Boston — this string of 
bloody trophies, including the scalps of women and children 
and an aged priest — he was received as if he had been some 
great general, fresh from the field of victory." 

A certain Captain John Lovewell, emulous of Harmon's 
fame as a taker of scalps, and with a patriotism fired by the 
large bounty offered by Massachusetts for that kind of ar- 
ticle, gathered a band of volunteers, and commenced scalp- 
hunting on the borders of New Hampshire. They killed 
one Indian for whose scalp the company received £100. He 
started next year with forty men, surprised ten Indians by 
their camp fire at Salmon Falls, whose scalps netted £1000. 
In a subsequent fight he lost his own scalp, as did thirty- 
four of his men.* 

Meanwhile the administration of Lieutenant-Governor 
Armstrong, at Annapolis Royal, was meeting with oppos- 
ition. At a council held at his house in September, 1727, 
at which time the inhabitants were ordered to assemble to 
take the oath, an answer was read, but not being subscribed, 
"it was returned to the three deputies who presented it, 
who were ordered to attend at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 
together with the inhabitants, and then adjourned the board 
to that time. .... The Deputies being 

admitted, again presented the aforesaid paper subscribed 
by almost seventy of the inhabitants. 
The Board resolved that the said paper is insolent, re- 
bellious, and highly disrespectful to his Majesty's authori- 
ty and government, that his Honor would please to tender 
the oaths to the inhabitants, and in case of refusal to tom- 
mit the leaders to prison. It was "ordered that the three 

* Hannay. 




ON THE FISHING BANKS. 



TROUBLES OF TH^, FRENCH 121 

deputies, for their contempt and disrespect to his Majesty's 
government and authority, be committed to prison, and thai 
the other inhabitants for having refused the oaths shall bf 
debarred from fishing upon the British coasts until his Maj- 
esty's further pleasure shall be known concerning them. 

Governor Phillips obtained an oath from the people of 
Annapolis River in the winter of 1730, of which the Lords 
of Trade complained as not having been explicit enough.* 

Gov. Armstrong writes from Annapolis Royal to the Duke 
of Newcastle : "I am sorry this Province should be in such 
a poor condition as it is really in, after having been so long 
as upwards of twenty-one years (which may be said imagin- 
ary only) under the English government ; for the inhabit- 
ants here being all French and Roman Catholics, are more 
subject to our neighbors of Quebec and Cape Breton than 
to his Majesty, whose government by all their proceedings 
(notwithstanding of their Oath of Fidelity) they seem to de- 
spise, being entirely governed by their most insolent priests, 
who, for the most part come and go at pleasure, pretending 
for their sanction the treaty of Utrecht, without taking the 
least notice of this Government, in spite of all endeavors 
used to the contrary. I must also inform your Grace that 
the Indians are employed in the affair, and use for an argu- 
ment that although the English conquered Annapolis, they 
never did Minas, and other parts of the Province, and in 
consequence of such arguments instilled into them, they 
have actually robbed the gentlemen of the Colliery by 
Chickenectua, destroyed their house and magazine built 
there, through pretense of a rent due them for the land and 



*Tbe following was the form of the oath : " Je promets et Jure Sin- 
cerement en Foi de Chretien que Je serai entierement Fidele, et Obeirai 
Vraiment Sa Majeste Le Roy George le Second, qui Je reconnoi pour Le 
Souvrain Seigneur de L'Accadie ou Nouvelle Ecosse. Ainsi Dieu m« 
Soit en Aide. " 



122 



ACADIA 



liberty of digging ; being advised, as I am informed, by 
Governor St. Ovid, that if they permit such designs of the 
English to succeed, that the Province will be entirely lost." 

Also a letter from the same at a later date : "Your Grace 
will be informed how high the French Government carries 
her pretensions over their Priests' obedience, and the people 
of the Province, being Papists, are absolutely governed by 
their influence. How dangerous this may prove, in time, to 
his Majesty's authority and the peace of the Province I know 
not, without we could have missionaries from some place in- 
dependent of that crown, but this will prove a considerable 
expense which the French King bears at present with alac- 
rity for very political reasons. It is most certain there is not 
a missionary neither among the French nor Indians who 
has n't a pens'on from that crown." 

Still another source of trouble to the Acadian Governors 
seems to have arisen, the nature of which will be seen by 
the following extract of a letter from Paul Mascarene, now 
Governor at Annapolis, to the Secretary of State : — 



" The increase of the French inhabitants calls for some 
fresh instructions how to dispose of them. They have divid- 
ed the lands they were in possession of, and which his Maj- 
esty was pleased to allow them on their taking the oaths of 
allegiance, and now they apply for new grants, which the 
Governor did not think himself authorized to favor them 
with, as his Majesty's instructions on that head prescribe 
the grant of unappropriated lands to Protestant subjects 
only. This delay has occasioned several of the inhabitants 
to settle themselves on the skirts of this Province, pretty 
far distant from this place, notwithstanding proclamations 
and orders to the contrary have been often repeated, and it 
has not been thought advisable hitherto to dispossess them 
by force. If they are debarred from new possessions they 
must live here miserably and consequently be troublesome, 
or else they will continue to possess new tracts contrary to 
orders, or they must be made to withdraw to the neighoor- 
ing French colonies of Cape Breton or Canada." 



TROUBLES OP THE FRENCH 123 

Another complaint Governor Mascarene has to make is 
told in the following letter to Des Enslaves, parish priest at 
Annapolis for many years : " You mention the spiritual to 
be so connected with the temporal as sometimes not to be 

divided. This proposition requires some explanation 

Under pretence of this connection the missionaries have 
often usurped the power to make themselves sovereign judges 
and arbiters of all causes amongst the people. For exam- 
ple : A parishioner complains to the priest that his neigh- 
bor owes him, and the priest examines the neighbor in the 
way of a confession. The man denies his owing. The 
piiest doth not stop where he should, but examines wit- 
nesses, and then decides in a judicial manner and condemns 
the party to make restitution ; and to oblige him thereunto 
refuses to administer the sacrament by which means the 
man is in a woful case, and must rather submit to be de- 
prived of his goods than to incur damnation, as he believes, 
by not receiving absolution from the priest. Consider how 
this tends to render all civil judicature useless." 

In 1742 it was pubiicxy ordered that "no Romish priest of 
any degree or denomination shall presume to exercise any 
of their ecciasiastical jurisdiction within this his Majesty's 
Province." 

The French Acadians in their objections to taking the oath 
of allegiance, gave as a reason that they were afraid of the 
savages, unless the English had a force at hand able to pro- 
tect them. This reason has been scoffed at by some histor- 
ical writers, as a specious sort of argument, that 18,000 peo- 
ple should be over-awed by a few hundred Indians ; assert- 
ing that this fear was the work of the French leaders, who 
wished to preserve the loyalty of the Acadians to the King 
of France. The condition of these poor inhabitants was in- 
deed truly deplorable, whose fears and interests were con- 
tinually worked upon by both the French and English 
powers. The following will go to show whether the fears 



124 ACADIA 

of the inhabitants, as to the acts of the Indians were they to 
take the oath, were groundless or not. It is a copy of an 
order to the inhabitants of Minas and vicinity (Grand Pre 
of Longfellow) by M. Du Vivier, Captain under Du Quesnal? 
commandant at Louisbourg ; — 

" The inhabitants of Minas are ordered to acknowledge 
the obedience they owe to the King of France, and in con- 
sequence are called upon for the following supplies: the 
parish of Grand Pre, eight horses and two men to drive them, 
that of the River Canard, eight horses and two men to drive 
them : that of Piziquid, twelve horses and three men to 
drive them ; as also the powder horns possessed by the said 
inhabitants, one only being reserved for each house. The 
whole of the above must be brought to me at 10 o'clock on 
Saturday morning, at the French flag which I have had 
hoisted, and under which the deputies from the said parishes 
shall be assembled to pledge fidelity for themselves and all 
the inhabitants of the neighborhood who shall not be called 
away from the labors of the harvest. All those for whom 
fche pledge of lidelity shall be given will be held fully res- 
ponsible for said pledge, and those who would contravene 
tiie present order shall be punished as rebellious subjects, 
and delivered into the hands of savages as enemies oi the 
6tate, as we cannot refuse the demand which the savages 
make for all those who will not submit themselves. vVe 
enjoin also upon the inhabitants who have acknowledged 
their submission to the King of France to acquaint us 
promptly with the names of all who wish to screen tnem- 
seives irom the said obedience, in order that faitniul sub- 
jects shall not suffer from any incursions which the savages 
may make." 

The following is the reply of the deputies to the order : 

To M. De Ganne : — 

We, the undersigned humbly representing the inhabit- 
ants of Minas, River Canard, Piziquid, and the surrounding 
livers, beg that you will be pleased to consider, that wnnei 
there wouid be no dimcu^ty, Dy virtue oi tue strong fo*cci 



TROUBLES OF THE FBENCH 125 

which you command, in supplying yourself with the quan- 
tity of grain and meat you and Du Vivier have ordered, it 
would be quite impossible for us to furnish the quantity 
you demand, or even a smaller, since the harvest has not 
been so good as we hoped it would be, without placing 
ourselves in great peril. We hope gentlemen that you will 
not plunge us and our families into a state of total loss ; 
and that this consideration will cause you to withdraw your 
savages and troops from our districts. We live under a 
mild and tranquil government, and we have all good reason 

to be faithful to it. 

Your very obedient servants, 

Jacques Le Blanc, and others. 
Minas, October 10th, 1744, 

I am willing, gentlemen, out of regard for you to com- 
ply with your demand. 

De Ganne. 
0( tober, 13th, 1744, 

By a letter of the same date, Governor Mascarene writes 
to the deputies, highly commendatory of the action of the 
peope of Minas and vicinity, for remaining "true to the 
allegiance which they owe to the King of Great Britain, 
their legitimate Sovereign, notwithstanding the efforts which 
have been made to cause them to disregard it." The peo- 
ple of Chignecto appeal' to have behaved with less loyalty, 
and received the following menacing notice: 

Deputies of Chignecto : — 

I send you these lines to inform you that I am in a po- 
sition to execute what I have so often said would happen to 
you if you failed in the allegiance you owed to his Britannic 
Majesty. If you wish therefore to avoid the danger which 
threatens you, do as the other departments have done — send 
your deputies, give an account of your conduct, anc* show 
the submission to which your oath of allegiance to the gov- 



126 JLCAVTA 

ernment of the King of Great Britain binds you'. In fchofe 
ease you shall still have in me a friend and servant. 

P. Masgarene. 

The above instrument will be better understood after a 
few explanatory words. In March, 1744, France made a 
declaration of war against England. News of this event 
did not reach Boston until June j but intelligence was con- 
veyed to Cape Breton much earlier, by a fast sailing vessel 
dispatched for that purpose. M. Du Quesnal, the Govern- 
or of the Island, had received instructions not to attempt 
the capture of any post in Nova Scotia until further orders,, 
under the apprehension that such expeditions might alarm 
the neighboring English colonies, and cause them to retali- 
ate on Louisbourg, then unfinished and unsufficiently garri- 
soned. 

Du Quesnal was well aware that the English posts of Can- 
so and Annapolis were in a ruinous condition and poorly 
garrisoned, and was firm in the belief that there were four 
thousand French Acadian s ready to throw off the English 
yoke ; he made up his mind to strike a sudden blow upon 
the unsuspecting English before they would have time to 
prepare for defense, and then trust to the effect of a bril- 
liant victory of French arms to allay the censures of his gov- 
ernment for his disobedience. He found an active and zeal- 
ous partisan in the person of Du Vivier, a great-grandson 
of Charles La Tour, to whom he gave command of the ex- 
pedition. The armament consisted of two sloops and sev- 
eral smaller vessels, with eight guns and other small arms, 
with about two hundred and fifty men. At Canso they 
were joined by two hundred Indians, which place was im- 
mediately invested. Captain Heron, the English command- 
ant, having only one company of men in garrison, and de- 
prived of the assistance of the man-of-war belonging to the 
station, with no better defense than a log block-house built 



TROUBLES -OF THE FRENCH 127 

long before by the fishermen, was forced to capitulate. The 
garrison of eighty brave men therefore surrendered, the con- 
ditions being that they should be taken to Louisbourg, 
and at the expiration of a year sent either to Boston or to 
England, Da Vivier burned down the block-house, and re- 
turned with his plunder and prisoners to Louisbourg, 

Had Du Vivier marched immediately upon Annapolis, that 
place must inevitably have fallen. The ramparts had been 
suffered to fall into the fosses, and cattle passed and repass- 
ed them at pleasure. The garrison, which had been reduc- 
ed at the peace, and subsequently weakened by a detach- 
ment sent to Canso, did not exceed eighty men capable of 
doing duty. Not yet aware of what had taken place in 
Europe, the English were not a little astonished to see, early 
in June, a hostile force of St, John and Cape Sable Indians, 
to the number of three hundred, assembled before the walls 
of the fort, demanding a surrender of the place. They were 
under control of La Loutre, a French priest, who has the 
name of being the most determined enemy to British power 
that ever came to Acadia. With him was young Bellisle, 
a son of Anastatia St. Castin, 

La Loutre informed the Governor that a reinforcement of 
regular troops was daily expected from Louisbourg, but 
that after blood was spilled it would be difficult to restrain 
the fury of the Indians. He advised an immediate surren- 
der, in which case humane treatment and protection were 
promised; otherwise the garrison must expect an immediate 
storm of the place on arrival of the soldiers, and probable 
massacre at the hands of the savages, if defeated. The re- 
ply was "it would be soon enough to surrender when the 
armaments of which he spoke had arrived." 

La Loutre's Indians, growing weary of waiting for the 
promised assistance from Louisbourg, withdrew to Minas, 
having burned some English houses in the neighborhood 
and stolen some cattle. 



126 ACADIA 

Hardly had La Loutre quitted Annapolis - before the ex^ 
pectant naval division appeared in the Basin from Canso? 
under Du Vivier. He lauded his men on the 2nd of June ^ 
the Indians of the vicinity flocking to his standard, he at 
once invested the fort. For four weeks he kept the place 
in a continual alarm, but did not venture a regular attack. 
In the meantime Mascarene had dispatched a vessel to Mas- 
sachusetts for help j. on the 3d of July, four companies of 
New England troops arrived \ a number of artisans at work 
on the fort having volunteered for military duty,, and hav- 
ing forty cannon mounted, the Governor believed himself 
capable of successful resistance. Du Vivier now prepared 
to assault the place, and offered a reward of four hundred 
livres to every Indian who should mount the rampart ; but 
not prevailing upon them to make the attempt, and hearing- 
that Mascarene contemplated a night sortie T he broke up his 
camp and returned to Minas. Du Vivier was severely cen- 
sured for precipitately alarming the English before Canada 
was in a position to support the consequences of a war, and 
also for not marching on Annapolis immediately on the re- 
duction of Canso, The people of that place could ill sup- 
port such a body of troops, which gave rise to the corres- 
pondence already referred to, Du Vivier had not been gone 
many days when a large French frigate, an armed brigan- 
tkie, and a sloop, appeared before Annapolis, This was a 
part of the naval force intended to operate in the reduction 
of the fort. Throughout this whole affair the French ap- 
pear to have been exceedingly unfortunate : for had any two 
of the three bodies acted in concert, Annapolis must have 
fallen. Mascarene acknowledged that much of his success 
was due to the conduct of the French Acadians, who with a 
few exceptions gave no willing aid to the enemy. 



CAPTUKE OF LOUISBOUEG. 



The capture of Louisbourg was planned, and the details 
carried forward, by the merest novices in war, under cir- 
cumstances unfavorable in the extreme ; and the attempt, 
all things considered, would have been pronounced foolhar- 
dy and reckless by the best military minds. The complete 
success of the enterprise, where there were so many contin- 
gencies either of which would have proved fatal to the pro- 
ject, effected at so small a loss and in so brief a period, has 
caused the taking of Louisbourg, the "Dunkirk of America," 
to be rated as among the most remarkable military triumphs 
on record. 

At this period the New England colonists were suffering 
severely from privateers sailing under French colors. These 
vessels were sent out from the port of Louisbourg ; to 
which place they likewise retreated when pursued, or to dis- 
pose of their booty. It was, therefore, a matter of dire 
exigency on the part of the colonists that this naval station 
should be broken up, — a measure that would result in driv- 
ing French privateers from American waters. The captive 
garrison of Canso, which had been sent home from Louis- 
bourg, conveyed information to the Governor of Massachu- 
setts that induced him to determine on an attempt against 
that place. 

This hated French fortress was situated on a bay on the 
southern coast of the Island of Cape Breton. Its gloomy 



130 ACADIA 

walls gave shelter to the Jesuit; the crafty aboriginal, with 
his belt of scalps, fresh from his English victims, found a 
secure asylum there ; and the gay soldier of France could 
here plot and scheme and draw supplies with which to carry 
on the war. Over the parapet was opened to the breezes 
the flaunting tri-color of France, waving a defiance against 
her competitor for the possession of the New World. 

Over thirty millions of livres had been drawn from the 
French royal treasury, and expended on the fortifications of 
Louisbourg ; and numerous cargoes of building stone were 
sent hither from France. For a quarter of a century had 
the government devoted its energy to the completion of the 
fortress ; and no v its sombre walls, " whose towers rose 
like giants abpve the northern seas," menaced the authority 
of the military rival of France. The town was more than two 
miles in circuit, and was surrounded by a rampart of stone 
from thirty to thirty-six feet high, and a ditch in front eighty 
feet wide. There were six bastions and eight batteiies, con- 
taining embrasures for one hundred cannon, and eight mor- 
tars. Two additional batteries — one at the entrance of the 
harbor and the other on a high cliff opposite — contributed 
to the strength of the place. The citadel was in the gorge 
of the King's Bastion. In the centre of the town were the 
stately stone church, the nunnery, and the hospital of St. 
Jean de Dieu. The streets crossed each other at right an- 
gles, and communicated with the wharves by five gates in 
the wall next the harbor. The houses were constructed, 
partly of wood and partly of stone or brick, and partook of 
the general substantial appearance of the place. 

Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, must be accredited 
as the originator of the grand scheme of the reduction of 
this almost impregnable fortress. In the autumn succeed- 
ing the capture of Canso [1744], Shirley had written to the 
British ministry, making known his plans and soliciting as- 
sistance: he conjectured that by surprising the place early 



CAPTURE OF LOUISBOURG 131 

in the spring before their succors had arrived from France, 
it would fall before a determined attack. Without waiting 
a reply from Great Britain, Shirley communicated his pro- 
ject to the general court, under an oath of secrecy. The 
pcheme appeared so wild and visionary to most of the mem- 
bers, that it was rejected; but a petition fortuitously arriv- 
ing from the merchants of Boston, Salem and Marblehead, 
complaining of the great injuries they had received from the 
privateers harboring at Louisbourg, Shirley was enabled to 
have the vote reconsidered, which was finally carried by a 
majority of one voice. Circulars were immediately address- 
ed to the colonies as far south as Pennsylvania, requesting 
their assistance, and that an embargo be laid on all their 
ports. All excused themselves from taking a part in so des- 
perate a venture, except Connecticut, New Hampshire and 
Rhode Island. The latter State missed its share in the 
£lory of the affair, howe -er, by the tardy arrival of the three 
hundred soldiers it had undertaken to contribute. 

Four thousaud and seventy troops were enlisted, victual- 
ed and equipped, in two months' time, and early in March 
this force was assembled in Boston, ready to embark. Of 
this number Massachusetts contributed three thousand two 
hundred and fifty men, Connecticut five hundred and six- 
teen, and New Hampshire three hundred and four. The 
four colonics furnished thirteen armed vessels carrying in 
all two hundred cannon. New York contributed artiLery, 
and Pennsylvania sent provisions, in aid of the project. 
Governor Shirley applied to Commodore "Warren, comman- 
der of the fleet on the West India Station, soliciting his as- 
sistance and co-operation : that commander declined to act 
on the grounds of having no orders from England, and that 
the expedition was wholly a Provincial affair, undertaken 
without the assent, and perhaps without the knowledge, of 
the Ministry. Tni3 was a severe disappointment to Shirley. 
but, concealing the information from the troops, on the 4th 



132 ACADIA 

of April the whole were embarked, and the expedition bore 
away for Canso. 

The command of the armament was given to William Pep- 
perell, a Militia Colonel, of Maine, a man of agreeable man- 
ners and unblemished character, and very popular through- 
out New England. 

This remarkable enterprise partook greatly of the nature 
of a religious crusade. In waging war against these Pa- 
pists, the Provincials thought they were doing God service. 
George Whiteneld, one of the founders of Methodism, was 
then in New England, animating the people with his impas- 
sioned eloquence, and to him they applied for a motto to in- 
scribe on the banner of the expedition. Wbiteiieli selected 
the following: "Nil desperandum Christo duce" — We des- 
pair of nothing Christ being our leader. A chaplain of one 
of the regiments carried on his shoulders a hatchet, w:th 
which, he proclaimed, it was his intention to destroy the 
images in the Papist chapels. Previous to sailing, religious 
services were held in all of the churches throughout New 
England, invoking the blessing of the Almighty on the un- 
dertaking, and committing to His keeping their fathers and 
brothers who were embarked in the hazardous enterprise. 
The whole affair was inaugurated in a manner so extraordi- 
nary, and rested so much on fortune for its success, that in 
no way can we explain their action other than that they be- 
lieved the God of Battles would signally bless an undei tak- 
ing, having His own glory for its prime object. Not one of 
those composing the expedition, from the highest to the 
lowest, knew how to conduct a siege, and few had ever heard 
a " cannon tired in anger ;" yet they abounded in the wild- 
est enthusiasm, and even went so far as to enter into pre- 
liminaries for celebrating a triumphal return. 

Providence smiled on them from the start. They arrived 
at Canso, the place of rendezvous, early in April. The en- 
tire coast of Cape Breton was securely blocked by a barrier 



CAPTURE OF LOUISBOURG 133 



attack had been received at Louisbourg. A richly laden 
vessel from Martinique, thus early bound vrith supplies for 
the fortress, fell an easy victim to the Provincials. A few 
<lays later, four war vessels were descried far out at sea. — 
All was in a tumult and alarm, and the vessels in the har- 
bor were got ready for action. As the strangers drew near, 
the broad pennant of Commodore Warren was" made out, 
ihiug at the mast-head of the Superb, the flag-ship of the 
squadron. Warren, subsequent to his refusal to Shirley, 
had received orders from England to proceed directly to 
North America, and concert measures for his Majesty's ser- 
vice. Learning from a fisherman that the fleet had sailed 
from Boston, he made all haste to join it at Canso. A con- 
ference was held with Pepperell, and it was arranged that 
Warren should cruise in front of Louisbourg, and intercept 
all vessels going there. Here he was joined in the course 
of a few weeks by six more British war ships which hap- 
pened on the coast, when he found himself in command of 
a formidable fleet of four ships of the line and six frigates. 
Other precautional measures were taken, which w r ere so 
effectual that, when on the 30th of April, the New England 
flotilla arrived in Gabarus Bay, they were so entirely un- 
expected that great consternation prevailed in the fortress 
and town. Cannon were fired, bells were rung, and dismay 
was exhibited in every movement in the hostile camp. 

The French sent out a detachment to obstruct an attempt 
of the English to land, but Pepperell deceived them by a 
clever ruse, and landeci his men higher up the bay, who 
drove the French party into Louisbourg. That day the 
English landed two thousand men, and during the follow- 
ing, the remainder safely reached the shore. Under cover 
of darkness, Colonel Vaughan, of New Hampshire, made a 
circuit of the works, to the rear of the Royal Battery north 
of the city ; setting tire to the storehouses behind it, filled 



134 ACADIA 

with pitch and tar, the sulphurous sinoke so frightened the 
garrison, who thought the whole English force was upon 
them, that they fled after first spiking their guns. This bat- 
tery was immediately occupied, and its thirty cannon turn- 
ed on the town with terrible effect, within which almost 
every shot lodged, several falling into the roof of the cita- 
del. The troops were employed for fourteen successive 
nights in drawing eannon from the landing place to the 
camps, through a morass. The soldiers constructed sledg- 
es, as the ground was too soft to permit the use of wheels, 
and, with straps on their shoulders, dragged the ponderous 
guns along, sinking to their knees in the mud. This work 
could be done only in the night or in foggy weather, the 
place being in full view of the town and within reach of its; 
guns. By the close of that month thebesiegers had complet- 
ed a line of trenches, erected five fascine batteries mounted 
with sixteen cannon and several mortars, which had destroy- 
ed the western gate of the city and made an evident impres- 
sion on its circular battery. Five unsuccessful attacks were 
made upon the fortifications on the island, in which the as- 
sailants lost a number of men ; a safer plan of silencing it 
was carried out of erecting a battery on Light-House Point 7 
which enfiladed the Island Battery, rendering it untenable. 
In the meantime, the Vigilant, a French seventy-four gun 
ship, unaware of the presence of an enemy, had sailed into 
the very jaws of Warren's fleet. The prize was laden with 
a great quantity of military stores, and five hundred and 
sixty men. This capture proved very opportune to the al- 
lied forces, as it not only added to the English naval pow- 
er, but furnished them with a variety of supplies of which 
they had been very deficient. 

Commodore Warren proposed conveying information of 
this event to the Governor of the fort, and inducing the cap- 
tive commander of the Vigilant to certify it himseif. Some 
of the English prisoners, it was alleged, had been treated 



CAPTURE OP LOUISBOURG 135 

with severity-, the French Marquis was requested to visit 
the various ships on the station, and if satisfied with the 
treatment of his countrymen in the hands of the English, 
to address a letter to Governor Du Chambon, entreating 
similar usage for those whom the fortunes of war had thrown 
into his hands. To this he readily consented, and the fol- 
lowing letter was sent by a flag of truce into Louisbourg 
next day- 

"On board the Vigilant, a prisoner, June 18th, 1745; 
(Translation. ] 

"Herewith I send you, Sir, the copy of a letter, written to 
me by Mr, Warren, Commander of the squadron, who in- 
forms me that the French have treated some English pris- 
oners with cruelty and inhumanity. I can scarcely believe 
it, since it is the intention of the King, our master, that they 
should be well treated on every occasion. You are to know 
that on the 30th of May, I was taken by the squadron as I 
was about to enter your harbor, and it is fitting you should 
be informed that the Captains and officers treat us not as 
prisoners, but as their good Mends, and take a very partic- 
ular care that my officers and equipage should want for 
nothing. To me it seems just you should treat them in the 
same manner, and see that they be punished who act other- 
wise, and oiler any insult to those whom you make prison- 
ers. Yours, &c, 

De La Maison Forte. 

To Du Chambon, 

Governor of Louisbourg. 

As Warren surmised, this intelligence had the effect of 
inducing the French to consider the propriety of a surren- 
der. The French garrison were mutinous, and could not 
be trusted outside the fort. The erection of a battery on 
Light House Cliff, together with the preparations which 
were making for a combined assault by sea and land, brought 
matters to a crisis: negotiations were opened, and on the 
16th of June, the fortress of Louisburg capitulated, Upon! 



136 ACADIA 

entering the works, the stoutest hearts were appalled efc 
viewing its strength, and the terrible slaughter which must 
have befallen the English had they attempted to carry the 
place by assault. The garrison, numbering 650 veteran 
troops, 1310 militia, the crew of the Vigilant, and the prin- 
cipal inhabitants of the town, in all upwards of four thou- 
sand persons, engaged they would not bear arms for twelve 
months against Great Britain or her allies, and being em- 
barked on board of fourteen cartel ships, were transported 
to Rochfort. 

A swift sailing ship earned the news to Boston of the glo- 
rious triumph the sons of New England had won, and well 
might they rejoice, for history records no parallel. That a 
band of untrained artisans and husbandmen, working after 
a plan of operations di/awn up by a lawyer, and commanded 
by a merchant, should capture a fortress it had taken thir- 
ty years to build, and defended by veteran troops, was so 
wonderful as to astonish all Europe. Boston and London, 
and all the chief cities of England and America were illumi- 
nated. The batteries of the London Tower fired salutes, 
and King George II made Pepperell a baronet, and War- 
ren a rear-admiral. Pepperell attributed his success, not to 
his artillery or Warren's line -of -bat tie ships, but to the 
prayers of New England, daily arising from every village 
in behalf of the absent army. 

It is remarkable that a train of fortuitous circumstances 
should have suceeeded one another, any one of which, had 
it been otherwise, would have brought disaster on the ex- 
pedition. The garrison of the place had been so mutinous 
that the Governor could not trust them to make a sortie, 
otherwise he might have repeatedly surprised and broken 
up the English camp. The French were in want both of 
provisions and stores, and those sent to them had been cap- 
tured at the mouth of the harbor by the hostile fleet. The 
French could form no idea of the number of their assail- 



CAPTURE OP LOUISBOTTBG 137 

ants, and the English prisoners, as if by a preconcerted un- 
derstanding, represented the number infinitely greater than 
it was. During the forty-nine days that the siege lasted, 
the weather was remarkably fine ; but the day succeeding 
the surrender it became foul, the rain falling incessantly for 
ten days, during which time fifteen hundred of the Provin- 
cials were attacked with dysentery. Had the soldiers been 
stationed in the trenches, and exposed to the rains, the mor- 
tality would have been fearful. At the time the transports 
sailed from Boston there was no prospect of aid from the 
navy ; but circumstances providentially brought together 
every British ship of war then on the American Continent 
and Islands, to which, if we add the captured French ves- 
sels, a formidable fleet was the result. But these circum- 
stances must not be construed as lessening the merit of the 
man who planned, or of the soldiery whose valor was re- 
warded by so signal a victory. 

The capture of Louisbourg, while it added lustre to the 
military fame of England, at the same time aroused all the 
warlike potencies of the French. Indeed, so great were the 
preparations immediately entered into by France to regain 
possession of her American stronghold, and to strike a blow 
at her English rival by the destruction of her New Eng and 
colonies, that it seemed the sovereignty of Great Britain 
in the New World would be annihilated. 

Early the following season [1746], the Duke D'Anville was 
sent out with an armament consisting of forty ships of war, 
fifty-nine transports, and thirty-five hundred men, together 
with forty thousand muskets for the use of the French and 
Indians in Canada. D'Anville was ordered to retake and dis- 
mantle Louisbourg; thence to proceed against Annapolis, 
which he was to recapture and garrison; he was next di- 
rected to destroy Boston, ravage the w T hole American coast, 
and pay a visit to the West Indies. Thus it will be seen 
that the British Colonies in America, by their zealous par- 



138 ACADIA 

ticipation in the movement that led to the fall of Louis- 
bouirg, had diverted the vengeance of France upon their 
own heads ; and they were likely to be put to the necessity 
of coping alone with this formidable French armada, Eng- 
land having given notice of her inability or indisposition to 
furnish either men or vessels to assist her colonies at this 
critical juncture. Though alarmed at the prospect, the 
New Englanders were not dismayed; and the most vigor- 
ous measures were adopted by way of averting the portent- 
ous calamity. 

A dire fatality seemed to hang over the fortunes of the 
Duke D'Anville from the time he cleared the coast of France. 
His passage across the Atlantic, though at the mildest sea- 
son of the year, was protracted and perilous in the extreme. 
When within less than a thousand miles of Nova Scotia, he 
ordered one of his ships that had been disabled to ba burned. 
On the 1st of September he experienced a terrible gale off 
Sable Island, where he lost a transport and fire-ship. Here 
the Ardent and the Mars, both of sixty-four guns, being 
much injured, put back for Brest, and were captured on the 
coast of France, and the Alcide, having sustained serious 
damages, bore away for the West Indies. After a passage 
of more than ninety days he reached Chebucto (Halifax) 
Harbor with the Renomme and three transports. Four 
ships of war that he had previously sent as convoy to His- 
paniola, with orders to immediately return to Nova Scotia, 
were absent. He was so disturbed at the disappointment 
the failure of this expedition would occasion in France, 
that his health was greatly affected ; he died suddenly the 
fourth day after his arrival, some say of apoplexy — the Eng- 
lish claim of poison. The same day Vice- Admiral D'Estour- 
nelle arrived in the harbor with four additional ships of the 
line. Other ships and frigates having been either destroyed 
or sent back, a proposition was made before a council of 
war to return to France. The Vice-Admiral's spirits were 



CAPTURE OP LOUISBOURG 139 

oppressed to such a degree that he was thrown into a fever 
and attacked with delirium, during which he imagined him- 
self a prisoner : he ran himself through the body with his 
sword, causing instant death. An attack on Annapolis hav- 
ing been agreed upon, it was found necessary to await the 
arrival of such of the vessels as had outlived the storm, and 
were daily coming into port; and also to laud the men, who 
were suffering terribly from a scorbutic fever resulting from 
their long confinement on shipboard. Since the time they 
had left France, they had lost 1,270 men, and the rest were 
so sickly that they were unable to undergo the least fatigue. 
They were therefore landed on the southern shore of Bed- 
ford Basin, and furnished with fresh provisions from the 
Acadian district. 

The squadron from the West Indies, that had been pre- 
viously detached from the fleet as convoy, which, it was ex- 
pected, would co-operate with them, had been on the coast, 
but D'Anville's fleet not arriving at the appointed time, it 
had put back to France. The Canadian troops, that had 
come to act in concert with the fleet, having waited beyond 
the speciiied time, had commenced their return march to 
Quebec. Still, the French were determined to invest xln- 
napolis, and a detachment of regulars was sent to Minas, 
there to hold itself in readiness to march for Annapolis as 
soon as the fleet should leave Chebucfco. No time was fixed 
for their departure, for the mortality among the people con- 
tinued; they had buried over a thousand men on the shores 
of Bedford Basin since the formation of the encampment. 
Their allies, the Micmac Indians, took the infection, which 
spread with such alarming rapidity that one third of their 
number, it has been computed, leil victims to the scourge. 

A vessel bound from Boston to Louisbourg, having been 
captured with the mails, a communication was found from 
Governor Shirley, with the information that Admiral Les- 
tock, with a fleet of eighteen sail, had been ordered to the 



140 ACADIA 

North American station, and might be hourly expected. An 
express was dispatched to inform M. de Ramsay, who had al- 
ready invested Annapolis, that the fleet would immediately 
sail thither. Three of the vessels were sent home with the 
Indians ; the rest of the fleet numbering thirty-seven sail, 
put to sea and bore away for Annapolis. 

They were doomed to a combination of disasters that had 
continued to befall them ever since the armament had lex, 
France. "When off Cape Sable, they encountered another 
of those terrirc storms, which so weakened and dispersed 
the vessels that they returned to Europe. Tidings of the 
fieet/s first disaster having reached France by some of the 
returned vessels, two men-of-war were immediately sent out 
to join the fleet, with orders to take and hold Annapolis at 
all hazards ; but the fleet had sailed three days before their 
arrival on the coast. M. de Ramsay, who had encamped 
before Annapolis, retired to Chebucto, where he placed his 
men in winter quarters, in readiness to operate with anoth- 
er French squadron which was to be sent out the following 
spring. 

The armament of the Duke D'Anville, which had excited 
such high expectations in France, and which had struck 
such terror throughout the English colonies, by a train of 
fortuitous circumstances as marked as those contributing 
to the fall of Louisbourg, was doomed to utter failure. One 
half of the vessels were lost or disabled, and more than one 
half the troops died from disease, without having had an 
opportunity of measuring strength with the enemy. These 
coutinued disasters to the French were regarded by the 
people of New England as special interpositions of Provi- 
dence in their favor. Public thanksgivings were everywhere 
offered ; towns were illuminated ; and no one doubted the 
right of the English to the whole of Acadia. 

Though the fleet had left the coast, Ramsay still remained 
on the Peninsula, which caused Mascarene much uneasiness 



CAPTURE OF L0UI9B0URG 141 

lest the French soldiery, aided by the Aeadians and Indians, 
should attack Annapolis, Governor Mascarene wrote fre- 
quently to Massachusetts, noting the extremely hazardous 
position of the English in Acadia, and soliciting help. He 
expressed it as his opinion that a reinforcement of one thou- 
sand troops would be sufficient to dislodge the enemy from 
Acadian, soil. He also suggested, as a politic maneuver, 
by quartering the soldiers among the inhabitants, they 
would consume all the provisions, and so leave the country 
destitute of the means of supporting an invading enemy: 
and further, that their presence and intercourse among the 
Acadian French would have a good effect in confirming 
them in their allegiance.* 

These representations had the designed effect: Massa- 
chusetts sent five hundred men, Rhode Island three hun- 
dred, and New Hampshire two hundred, for this service. 
The contingent from Rhode Island was shipwrecked near 
Martha's Vineyard ; the armed vessels of New Hampshire 
went as far as Annapolis, but immediately returned to Ports- 
mouth : and the troops from Massachusetts, not being able 
to reach Minas by water on account of the inclemency of 
the weather, were landed on the 4th day of December, on 
the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Each man was furnished 
with fourteen days' provisions, and the party made a winter 
journey to Minas, through the snow and the interminable 
forests, and in eight days' time they reached Grand Pre in 
safety, though having suffered much from cold and fatigue. 

This detachment was quartered for the winter in the vil- 
lage of Grand Pre. Supposing the rigor of the season and 
the difficulty of threading the pathless woods to guarantee 



'Mascarene does riot seem to make provision for the Aeadians after 
their food supplies were consumed by the soldiers ; nor is it easy to see 
boy; such a pluu was to operate in increasing the love of the Aeadians foi 
the conquerors of then* country. 



142 ACADIA 

them immunity from attack, the English neglected to take 
proper precautionary measures, and distributed their forces- 
in a careless manner. The French were soon apprised of 
this, and on the 8th of January a detachment from Chig- 
necto, under Be Viliiers,* marched against the English at 
Minas. The distance between the two points by the ordi- 
nary route was less than a hundred miles. But the Basin 
was impassable for canoes on account of the floating ice. 
De Villiers was therefore obliged to make a long detour 
around its shores ; and when his soldiers came to a river 
they were obliged to follow up its course above the influence 
of the tide before a crossing could be effected. While the 
French were toiling on through the dark fir forests, making 
their way on snow shoes and dragging their provisions on 
siedges, bivouacking at night on the snow with no roof but 
the sky, and mercury far below zero, the English were in 
their comfortable quarters at Grand Pre, living in fancied 
security. Some 01 the inhabitants told them the French 
were coming, but they gave no credit to the report. 

Eighteen days of weary toil among the passes of theCobe- 
quid mountains, and along the storm-beaten banks of the 
Shubenacadia, brought the assailants to Gaspereau. Cross- 
ing the bridge over the creek, the detachment halted and 
partook of refreshments j then the force, numbering six 
hundred, was divided into small parties, and the attack was 
made about three o'clock in the morning. A fearful snow 
storm had been raging for twenty- four hours, until the snow 
was four feet in depth, and the air was sthl full of fallirg 
flakes, which hid the advancing column from the sentinels, 
until the} 7 had been surprised and bayoneted. De Vi Hers 
was joined by some Acadians at Piziquid (Windsor), and was 
informed by them of the exact position of the English. They 



* The English officer who fought against George Washington at the 
capitulation of Tort Necessity in 1754* 



CAPTURE OF LOUISBOURG 14:3 

were quartered in twenty-four houses, from which the 
French people had retired when rumors of the invasion be- 
gan to be received. De Villiers resolved to attack ten of 
them in which the principal officers resided, and crush them 
by an overpowering force : — judging that the rest would fall 
an easy prey when the leaders were disposed of. The Eng- 
lish leaped out of their beds and fought desperately for their 
lives ; but their assailants outnumbered them, and they were 
undressed, and many of them unarmed. A terrible slaugh- 
ter was the result. Colonel Noble was killed fighting in h'is 
shirt, and with him fell four ofncers and seventy soldiers ; 
sixty more of the English were wounded and nearly seventy 
made prisoners. A number of the English still remained, 
who collected in a body under Captain Morris, and made a 
gallant stand. They were unprovided with snow-shoes, and 
were impeded in their movements by the depth of the snow. 
They made an effort to cut their way to their vessel and 
provisions, which attempt proved unsuccessful. At noon a 
suspension of arms was agreed upon, and a capitulation 
afterward ariauged in the following terms : — 1st, they were 
to inarch off to Annapolis, with arms shouldered, drums 
beating and colors flying, through a lane of the enemy with 
rested firelocks. — 2nd, they w T ere to be allowed six days' pro- 
visions, with a pound of powder and a projDortion of ball to 
each man. — 3d, they were not to carry arms against the 
French in the country bordering on the Basin of Minas and 
CLignecto for six months. The French loss in this unequal 
strife was only seven killed and fourteen wounded, but De 
Viiiiers was among the latter. Such, doubtless, are the 
variable fortunes of war : yet the wholesale slaughter of un- 
armed, helpless men, just awakened from their slumbers, 
has none of the heroic qualities of a fair fight in the field of 
battle. 

In the meantime Jonquiere had returned to France with 
the remnant of D'Anviiie's fleet. By great exertions he had 



144 ACADIA 

caused another expedition to be fitted out to operate againsfe 
Nova Scotia, comprising thirty- eight sail, laden with soldiers 
and ordnance stores, which was put under his command. 
The sailing of the French fleet had been watched by their 
English rivals ; a formidable armament under the British 
flag set out in chase, and forced an engagement off Cape 
Finisterre, on the 3d of May, 1747. After a well contested 
battle the French struck their colors ; seven of their ships 
were captured, and almost five thousand soldiers taken pris- 
oners. It is estimated that France lost by this catastrophe 
a million and a half of livres. This destroyed all hopes that 
Ramsey had entertained to reduce Nova Scotia. But this 
war was about to draw to a close. On the 7th of October 
terms of peace were concluded between France and England, 
known as the "Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle." By its stipula- 
tions the people of New England were not a little chagrin- 
ed to see the fortress of Louisbourg, that had cost them so 
much blood and treasure to secure, again pass into the hands 
of the French. It mattered not though fully a thousand of 
brave New Engianders lay moldering under the patch of 
dark green-sward, in the old burying ground on Point Koch- 
fort, who had sacrificed their lives to wrench it from French 
domination. tb Though no monument marks the spot, yet 
the waves of the restless ocean, in calm or in storm, sing an 
everlasting requiem over the graves of the departed heroes." 
The restoration of Louisbourg has been pronounced an act 
of extreme folly, in view of its aggressiveness towards 
American commerce, and the fact that the peace was not 
likely to be lasting. Says Macaulay — " the peace was, as 
regards Europe, nothing but a truce; it was not even a 
truce in other quarters of the globe." 



REFUSING THE OATH. 



Nearly balf a century had elapsed since the English, by 
the t/eaty of Utrecht, had come in possession of Nova Sco- 
tia ; yet they had not succeeded in founding a single English 
settlement, nor had they added to the number of English 
speaking people in the Province. The French Acadian s on 
the contrary had gone on increasing and spreading them- 
selves over the land, until their numbers were treble what 
they were when the country came under the British flag. 
Like Pharaoh of old, who, dismayed at the increase of the Is- 
raelites, was terribly perplexed how to dispose of them, the 
Governor of Acadia was at a loss what to do with the French 
Neutrals. The garrison at Annapolis were dependent on 
the French for supplies, and would have nothing to live up- 
on were the latter driven from the territory ; and, further- 
more, would have to garrison a country without a popula- 
tion in it. Besides, it was stipulated by an English law that 
all unoccupied lands in the Province should be reserved to 
English settlers ; the French had therefore divided and sub- 
divided their farms to accommodate the increasing number 
of families, until this was no longer practicable. The Gov- 
ernor did not like to see the law violated by French families 
settling on unoccupied lands ; he was also anxious to exempt 
the French from the miseries attendant upon overcrowding, 
and escape the embarrassment of providing therefor. 

Another source of annoyance was that the Acadians, in« 



146 ACADIA 

secure in their rights and possessions, when they received 
any coin for produce sold to the garrison, would not allow 
it to come into circulation ; keeping it by them,* as was 
supposed, for use in case they were driven from their pos- 
sessions. 

Heretofore the government of the Province of Nova Sco- 
tia had been administered by the commander of the garri- 
son at Annapolis, the province being thought too poor to 
support any additional expense ; but in 1749, Hon. Edward 
Cornwallis was appointed to be Governor-in-chief of Nova 
Scotia. He arrived at Chebucto harbor during the sumimer, 
where he established the first permanent English colony, com- 
prising two thousand and five hundred persons, naming it 
Halifax out of compliment to the Lord then at the head of 
the .Board of Trade. The colonists comprised a large num- 
ber of disbanded officers, soldiers and sailors. Halifax was 
henceforth the seat of government of the Province, while 
Annapolis, which had been the center of power, was to take 
a secondary part in the history of the country. 

We will now endeavor to follow, with a frank and open 
candor, the course of events of the next fifteen years that 
culminated in the utter ruin of eighteen thousand pastoral 
French people. We will bring forward the authenticated 
facts bearing upon this part of our subject, and give both 
sides a fair and impartial hearing. The prejudices of race 
and religion are now happily lessened ; the scenes were en- 
acted so long ago that no fears need be entertained of of- 



** Numbers buried their coin, nearly always, if tradition may be be- 
lieved, in stone crocks. They then prepared charts in cypher, pointing 
out the location of the hidden treasure. The French inhabitants,' at the 
time of their expatriation, were driven away so suddenly, that numbers of 
them had no time to secure it. There are many stories current among 
the people in various localities, of Frenchmen returning to their former 
habitations, and by means of charts, mineral rods, and forms of divina- 
tion known only to the initiated, securing and carrying away quantities of 
the hidden coin. 



REFUSING THE OATH 147 

fending the posterity of the chief actors in the melancholy 
diama: and, furthermore, believing that the people of Eng- 
land, France and America, are at this late date willing to 
assume their full share of culpability in contributing to the 
sufferings of this unfortunate people, — we are arrived at a 
time when the matter may be treated with entire freadom, 
without the hazard of meeting with undue bigotry and pre- 
judgment. We may premise that the succeeding extracts 
are compiled, with few exceptions, from English sources, 
and may natuially be expected to have a bias in favor of 
the cause of Great Britain. When parties are convicted by 
witnesses supposed to be in their interest, the proof is always 
deemed the more conclusive. The French people cannot 
be heard in their own behalf, as their papers were taken 
from them at the time of their forced extirpation. If they 
had any record of their sufferings and wrongs, it will ever 
remain a sealed book. 

One of the very first acts of Governor Cornwallis on es- 
tablishing his government at Halifax, was to issue a decla- 
ration to the "French subjects of his Majesty, King George, 
inhabiting Nova Scotia," which contains the following charge 
against them, bearing date of July 14, 1749 : 

"I do hereby declare in his Majesty's name, that his Maj- 
esty, although fully sensible that the many indulgences 
which he and his royal predecessors have shown to the said 
inhabitants in allowing them the entirely free exercise of 
their religion, and the quiet and peaceable possession of 
their lands, have not met with a dutiful return, but on the 
contrary divers of the said inhabitants have openly abetied 
or privately assisted his Majesty's enemies in their attempts, 
by furnishing them with quarters, provisions and intelli- 
gence, and concealing their designs from his Majesty's Gov- 
ernor, insomuch that the enemy more than once appeared 
under the walls of Annapolis .Royal before the garrison had 
any notice of their being within the Province: yet his Maj- 
esty, being desirous of showing further inarms of his royal 



148 ACADIA 

grace in hopes to induce the inhabitants to become for the 
future true and loyal subjects, is graciously pleased to al- 
low that the said inhabitants shall continue in the free exer- 
cise of their religion, as far as the laws of Great Britain do 
allow the same, as also the peaceable possession of such 
as are under their cultivation : Provided, that the said in- 
habitants do, within three months from the date of this de- 
claration, take the Oath of Allegiance appointed to be taken 
by the laws of Great Britain, . . and I do strictly charge 
and forbid all persons wnatever, from possessing themselves 
of any cultivated land witlnn this Province without a grant 
for tne same under the seal of this Province ; also that no 
person whatever do export out of this Province any corn or 
cattie without especial leave for that purpose." 

In answer to the charge contained in the above, that the 
French openly abetted with the enemies of King George, 
we append the following extract from a letter written by 
Governor Mascarene, dated at Annapolis Royal, in which he 
says, referring to Du Vivier's campaign : 

" To the breaking the French measures, the timely suc- 
cors received from Massachusetts, and our French Inhab- 
itants refusing to take up arms against us, we owe our 
preservation. The first had prepared a force that in the 
opinion of all, considering the ill condition of the fort, we 
should not have been able to resist ; by the second, our men 
were eased in constant duty the many ruinous places in our 
ramparts required to attend ; and if the inhabitants had tak- 
en up arms they might have brought three or four thousand 
men against us, who would have kept us on still harder du- 
ty, and by keeping the enemy for a longer time about us, 
made it impossible to repair breaches or get our firewood." 

The charge of the English had been that the French in- 
habitants were ripe for revolt, and only needed the presence 
of a French force in the country when they would flock to 
its standard. The above declaration of Mascarene would 
seem to refute this charge, as also the following which ap- 
peals on the records, relative to Du Vivier's behavior towards 



REFUSING THE OATH 149 

the inhabitants of Minas and Piziquid, that it was "very 
harsh $"" that the French soldiers "coming in the night sent 
0am to every house whilst they were buried in sleep, and 
threatened to put any to death that should stir out or come 
near the [English] fort; that they had been ordered to fur- 
nish weekly a, certain quantity of cattle, to bring their carts 
and teams, the orders being most of them on pain of death." 

At the first Council held by the new government at Hali- 
fax, — which for want of better accommodation was held on 
board of a vessel in the harbor, — on July 14th, three French 
deputies, representing River Canard, Grand Pre and Pizi- 
quid, called to pay their respects. They were furnished 
with copies of the above declaration, and of the oath fcliat 
was to be given to the inhabitants, and were commanded to 
return within a fortnight and report the resolutions of their 
several departments. They were ordered to send to the 
other French settlements to let them know His Excellency 
desired to see their deputies as soon as possible. 

In obedience to the orders of Cornwallis, ten deputies ar- 
rived at Halifax on the 29th, representing the settlement of 
Annapolis, Grand Pie, River Canard, Piziquid, Cobequid, 
Chignecto and Shepody, who delivered a written answer to 
his Excellency the Governor, which contained a request that 
they might be permitted to have priests, and enjoy the free 
and public exercise of religion; and demanded an exemption 
from bearing arms in time of war. The Council were of 
opinion that they might be allowed the free exercise of their 
religion, provided that no priest shall presume to officiate 
without first obtaining a license, and taking the Oath of Al- 
legiance to his Majesty. With regard to exemption from 
bearing arms it was the unanimous opinion no exemption 
should be granted them, but they must be told peremp- 
torily that they must take the Oath of Allegiance as offered 
them, for that his Majesty would allow none to possess 
lands in his territories whose allegiance could not be count- 



150 ACADIA 

ed on in case of need. It was decided to send persons to* 
the French districts to administer the oat i to the in \abit- 
ants, and such as would continue in the possession of their 
lands must take the oath before the 26th of October, which 
would be the last day allowed them. 

The next day the deputies were ealled before the Council, 
and a declaration embodying the above decisions read to 
them, and a copy given to each for their several districts. 
The deputies asked provided they had a mind to evacuate 
their lands, if they could have leave to sell their lands and 
effects, and were told they could not be allowed to sell or 
carry off anything. The deputies then asked leave to return 
and consult with the inhabitants, upon which they were 
warned that all who should not before the 26th of October 
have taken the Oath of Allegiance, would forfeit all their pos- 
sessions and rights in this Province, They then asked leave 
to go to the French Governors and see what conditions 
might be offered them, and were told that " whoever shuuld 
leave the Province without first taking the Oath of Allegiance, 
should immediately forfeit all their rights." The priests of 
the several settlements were at the same time ordered to 
repair to Halifax as soon as possible. 

On the 6th of September, deputies from the French dis- 
tricts appeared before the Governor at Halifax, with a letter 
containing their answer, signed by one thousand persons. 
After acknowledging with thanks the many kindnesses and 
privileges they had received from the government, this- letter 
goes on to say ; " We believe if his Majesty had been inform- 
ed of our conduct towards his government, he would not 
propose to us an oath, which, if taken, would at any moment 
expose our lives to great peril from the savage nations, who 
have reproached us in a strange manner, as to the oath we 
have taken to his Majesty. This one binding us still more 
strictly, we should assuredly become the victims of their 
barbarous cruelty. The inhabitants, over the whole extent 



BEFUSING THE OATH 151 

of coTmtry, "have resolved not to (alee the oath required of 
us ; but if your Excellency will giant us our old oath which 
was given us at Minas, by Mr- Richard Phillips, with an ex- 
emption for ourselves and for our heirs from taking up arms, 
we will accept it. But if your Excellency is not disposed to 
grant us what we take the liberty of asking, we are resolved, 
every one of us, to leave the country. We take the liberty 
to beg your Excellency to tell us whether or not his Majesty 

has annulled the oath given us by Phillips We hope 

you i* Excellency will allow yourself to be moved by our 
miseries, and we, on our part, will exert ourselves to the 
utmost in praying to God for the preservation of your per- 
son." 

His Excellency made the following answer: 

Cl We have cause to be much astonished at your conduct. 
This is the third time you have come here, and you do noth- 
ing but repeat the same story. To-day you present us a 
letter signed by a thousand persons, in which you declare 
openly that you will be the subject of his Britannic Majesty 
on such and such conditions. It appears to me you think 
yourselves independent to any government, and you wish to 
treat with the King as if you were so. 

"But you ought to know, that from the end of the year 
stipulated in the treaty of Utrecht, for the evacuation of the 
country, those who chose to remain in the Province became 
at once the subjects of Great Britain. The treaty declares 
them sach ; the Kiag of France declares, in the treaty, that 
ali tlie French who shall remain in this Province, sha^i be 
the subjects of his [British] Majesty. 

" It would be contrary to common sense, also, to suppose 
that one can remain in a province, and possess houses and 
lands there, without being subject to the sovereign of that 
province. Sou deceive yourselves if you think you are at 
liberty to choose whether you will be the subjects of the 
King or no. From the year 1714, that no longer depended 
upon you. From that moment you became subject to the 

laws of Great Britain You ought to have taken the Oa:h 

of Allegiance to your King the moment you were required 
to do so. You tell me tliat General Phillips granted you 



152 ACADIA 

the reservations you demand ; and I tell you that the genera? 
who granted you such reservations did uot do his duty;; 
and also that this oath has never in the Slightest degree 
lessened your obligations to act always as a subject ougnt 
to act. 

" You allow yourself to be led astray by people who find 
to their interest to lead you astray. They have made you 
imagine it is only your oath which binds you to the English. 
They deceive you. It is not the oath which a King admin- 
isters to his subjects that makes them subjects. The oath 
supposes they are so already. The oath is no-thing but a 
very sacred bond of fidelity of those who take it. It is only 
out of pity to your situation, and to your inexperience in 
the affairs of government, that we condescend to reason 
with you ; otherwise the question would not be reasoning, 
but commanding and being obeyed " 

Governor Cornwallis wrote to the Board of Trade: "The 
French deputies have been here this week ; they came as they 
said with their final answer. Your Lordships will see from 
the enclosed copy of their letter, that they are resolved to 
retire rather than take the oath. As I am sure they will not 
leave their habitations this season, when tne letter was read 
to the council in their presence, I made them answer with- 
out changing any of my former declaration, or saying one 
word about it. My view is to make them useful as possible 
to his Majesty while they do stay. If, afterwards, they are 
still obstinate, I shall receive in the spring his Majesty's fur- 
ther instructions from your Lordships," 

In the foregoing papers we have a plain statement of the 
questions at issue, and the position of the two parties, nei~ 
ther being disposed to yield ground to the other. The neu- 
trals were firm in their determination not to take the pre- 
scribed oath without immunity from bearing arms, alleging 
as an excuse, their fear of the savages; though doubtless 
another reason was, that, in the unsettled state of the coun- 
try, they did not know how soon they might be calied upon 



REFUSING THE OATH 153 

to take arms against their own countrymen. The English 
Government, on the other hand, was as determined that they 
should take an unqualified oath, and gradually drew the re- 
straints of power more closely, until the expulsion of the 
French from the territory. 

TYhile these events were transpiring, other troubles were 
engendering, r.ll of which boded no good to the hopeless 
Acadians. The terms of the treaty of Utrecht were not suf- 
ficiently explicit, and war was likely to break out at any 
moment between the two powers over a professed misunder- 
standing. The French affected to believe the term " Aca- 
dia" included only the peninsula, while the British side 
were for including territory to the north of the Bay of Fundy. 
This made the government at Halifax all the more anxious 
to get the numerous Acadian French bound in some way to 
the British cause, and it was an equally potent reason for 
the Acadians not to commit themselves. The Governor of 
Canada had sent detachments of soldiers to take possession 
of the St. John Kiver, and also to dispute the title of the 
English at Chignecto, and prevent their settling there. 

In September, Captain Hanfield was detached from Anna- 
polis with orders to occupy Minas, and to establish himself 
he built a block-house at Grand Pre. This was looked upon 
with disfavor: a party of three hundred Indians attacked 
the place in December, but were foiled in the attempt ; they 
succeeded, however, in capturing Lieutenant Hamilton and 
eighteen men who were surprised without the fort. Eleven 
of the inhabitants of Piziquid were with the savages when 
the attack was made, and Captain Gorham was sent up to 
seize the rebellious inhabitants and confine them for trial; 
but they bad fied for Chignecto. 

At this period in our history, the priest, La Loutre, fig- 
ures quite conspicuously. As early as 1740 we find him act- 
ing as a missionary among the Micmac Indians. He was a 
most determined enemy to the British authority in Acadia, 

r 



154 ACADIA 

and an effective emissary and correspondent of the French 
government in Quebec. In 1745 we hear of him heading a 
body of Abenaqui Indians in an attack on Annapolis Royal.* 
Large sums of money, fire-arms, ammunition and other sup- 
plies, were furnished him from time to time, for distribu- 
tion among the French and Indians. His principal resi- 
dence was at Chignecto, from which point he could readily 
communicate with the different French settlements on the 
peninsula. He held the office of "Vicar- General in Acadia, un- 
der the Bishop of Quebec. By means of this office he ob- 
tained an influence over the Acadian priests, who became 
his agents in controlling the French and Indians of the 
province. He is charged with still farther departing from 
the sacred functions of his office by engaging in trade, by 
means of which he added to his coffers. The support he 
received from the Governor of Canada enabled him to hold 
his position, regardless of advice of his clerical superiors, 
and remonstrances of the British authorities. La Loutre's 
plan of operations with the Acadians, one which he pursued 
vigorously from first to last, was to threaten them with the 
vengeance of the savages if they submitted to the English, 
and to refuse the sacrament to all wLo refused to obey his 
commands. He was charged with inciting the Indians to 
hostilities at the early settlement of Halifax, and encourag- 
ing their attacks upon stragglers and those without the 
limits of the fort getting fire-wood. 

With all these ill-omened influences at work, it is not a 
matter of surprise that che new government at Halifax re- 
garded with suspicion all persons of French descent, and in- 
terpreted all occurrences to their disadvantage. But one 
fails to see the justice of laying the acts of a few renegade 
Frenchmen at the doors of thousands of law-abiding popu- 
lation, any more than pronouncing a whole community guil- 



* See pages 164-5. 



REFUSING THE OATH 155 

ty when a burglary has been committed in their midst ; or 
the equity of the claim that the machinations of the Papist 
La Loutre, reflected the sentiment of the whole Acadian 
people. 

The following is characteristic of the time : 

"To Capt. Sylvantjs Cobb: — 
Having certain information that La Loutre, a French 

Priest at Chignecto, is the author of all the disturbances the 
Indians have made in tnis Province, and that he directs and 
instructs them, and provides them from Canada with arms, 
ammunition, and every thing necessary for their purpose, — 
You are hereby ordered to apprehend the said priest La 
Loutre wherever he may be found, that he may answer the 
crimes laid to his charge. 

" As all the inhabitants of Chignecto, through his instiga- 
tion, have harbored and assisted the Indians, and have never 
given the least intelligence to this government, yoa are here- 
by ordered to seize as many of the inhabitants as you can, 
or in case they quit their houses upon your approach, you 
are to seize and secure as many of their wives and children 
as you think proper, and deliver them to the hrst English 
fort you shali come to, to remain as hostages of their better 
behavior. You will likewise searcii their houses tor papers, 
arms or ammunition and warlike stores of any kind, which you 
will take or destroy. 

" Given under my hand and seal at Halifax, Jan. 13, 1749. 

E. Cornwallis. 

Early in the season of 1750, Governor Cornwallis determ- 
ined to erect a block-house at Chignecto, where the most re- 
bellious of the French were residing, and near where the 
hated La Loutre had made his residence. Major Lawrence 
was entrusted with the work; taking with him four hun- 
dred soldiers, they marched to Minas, from whence they 
embarked for Chignecto. There on the south side of the 
Misseguash. which the French claimed to be the boundary 
of Acadia, was a settlement of one hundred and forty houses. 



156 ACADIA 

This village was situated upon one of the most fertile spots 
in all Acadia. Its people, having had early notice that the 
English were coming, were persuaded to abandon their 
homes, and with their cattle and movables, to cross theMis- 
seguash, and come under the French authority on the nor- 
thern bank. La Loutre was the chief prompter in this 
movement ; and to make the step irrevocable, he ordered his 
Indians to set fire to the village ; every dwelling was speed- 
ily consumed, not excepting the chapel. This act of wanton 
devastation committed on the French people by a priest of 
their own country and faith, comes well authenticated, 
otherwise it could hardly be believed. Over a thousand 
persons were embraced in this forced emigration ; and the 
number was increased at a later period. About eight hun- 
dred Acadians took refuge on the site of Charlottetowu, P. 
E. L, during the summer, and were fed on rations furnished 
from Quebec. There they lived miserably, like Indians in 
the woods. Others were scattered in different parts of the 
country. These poor refugees lived for several years within 
sight of the fields that had been their own, rather than re- 
turn to them on condition of taking the Oath of Allegiance 
to the Crown of England ; or we might more fitly say, "they 
were restrained by the influence of a wicked priest who em- 
ployed savages to overawe and coerce them." These were 
afterwards known in history as the "Deserted French In- 
habitants." Lawrence did not build the fort, as the with- 
drawal of the French south of the Misseguash rendered it 
unnecessary, and so he marched back to Minas. 

In April, 1750, deputies from River Canard, Grand Pre 
and Piziquid, arrived at Halifax, desiring leave to evacuate 
the Province and carry off their effects. Governor Corn- 
wallis returned them the following answer : 

"I am not ignorant of the fact that since my arrival in 
this Province, every means has been employed to alienate 



BEFUSING THE OATH 157 

the "hearts of the French subjects of his Biitannic Majesty. 
I know that great advantages have been promised you else- 
where, and that you have been made to believe your relig- 
ion was in danger. Threats have been resorted to in order 
to induce you to remove into French Territory. The sav- 
ages are made use of to molest you. The savages are to 
cut the throats of all who persist in remaining in their na- 
tive country, attached to their own interests, and faithful 
to the government By the manner in which this scheme 
has been carried out, you will judge of the character of the 
directors and of their designs. You will judge whether 
those deserve your confidence who sacrifice their own hon- 
or, the honor of their sovereign, and of their nation, to lead 
you to your ruin. You know that certain officers and mis- 
sionaries, who came from Canada to Chignecto last autumn, 
have been the cause of all our troubles duiing the winter. 
Their entrance into this Province, and their stay here, are 
oirectly contrary to the treaties which exist between the two 
crowns. Their conduct has been horrible, without honor, 
probity, or conscience, and such as they dare not acknowl- 
edge themselves. They are doing everything by under- 
hand dealings, and by means of the savages, whom they 
disown in the end. It was these who induced the Indians 
of the River St. John to join with the Micmacs, the day 
after a solemn treaty. They induced the Micmacs to com- 
mence their outrages, and iurnished them with everything 
for their war. Finally, since the peace, they have been en- 
gaged in intrigues ana enterprises for which an honest man 
would have blushed even duiing the war. These same gen- 
tlemen are doing their best to cause you to leave the country 
and to transfer yourselves to French territory. They have 
endeavoied to give you very false ideas which you will not 
fail to declare to us. Their aim is to embroil you with the 
government. * * * * 

"After having passed the winter in the Province and com- 
menced to prepare the lands in the spring, it is ridiculous 
to come ana tell me that you will not sow, having resoived 
to withdraw. My friends you must go and sow your lanus 
in order that they may be left in that condition in whicn 
they ought to be at this season. Without that you wiii 
have no right to expect the least favor from the government. 
"When you have done your duty in this respect, I wul 



158 ACADTA 

give you a more precise reply to your request. In the 
meantime, as it is my determination to act aiways in good 
faith with you and not to flatter you with vain hopes, I will 
now let you know my sentiments on two important articles. 
I declare to you frankly that according to our laws nobody 
can possess lands or houses in the Province, who shall refuse 
to take the Oath of Allegiance to the King when required 
to do so^ As to those who shall leave the Province, the or- 
der of no government permits them to take with them their 
effects. All their goods are confiscated to the King. I have 
just issued my orders to the effect that all shall be arrested 
and brought back who are found carrying off such effects." 

Towards the close of May, the French Neutrals having; 
sown their lands, deputies from Annapolis, Grand Pre, Riv- 
er Canard and Piziquid, again waited on the Governor at 
Halifax, soliciting permission to leave the Province. The 
following is a portion of a letter given by him in reply: 

"My friends, the moment that you declared it your desire 
to leave and submit yourselves to another government, our 
determination was to hinder nobody from following what he 
imagined to be to his interest. We know that a forced ser- 
vice is worth nothing, and that a subject compelled to be 
so against his will is not far from being an enemy. We 
frankly confess, however, that your determination to leave 
gives us pain. 

" We are well aware of your industry and your temper- 
ance, and that you are not addicted to any vice or debauch- 
ery. This Province is your country ; you and your fathers 
have cultivated it ; naturally you ought to enjoy the fruits 
of your labor. Such was the design of the King our Mas- 
ter. You know that we have followed his orders. You 
know that we have done everything to secure to you not 
only the occupation of your lands, but the ownership of 
them forever. 

" We have given you also every possible assurance of the 
enjoyment of your religion. When we arrived here we ex- 
pected that nothing would give you so much pleasure as 
the determination of his Majesty to settle this Province. 



TJfiFUSiBJG TH3 OATH 



159 



Certainly nothing more advantageous to you could take 
p'ace. You possess the only cultivated lands in the Prov- 
ince; they produce grain and nourish cattle sufficient for 
the whole colony. It is you who have had all the advant- 
ages for a long time. In short, we flattered ourselves that 
we could make you the happiest people in the world. . . . 
We must not complain of all the inhabitants. We know 
very well there are ill-disposed, and mischievous persons 
among you who corrupt the others. Your inexperience and 
your ignorance of the affairs of government, and your habit 
of following the counsels of those who have not your real 
interests at heart, make it an easy matter to seduce you. 
In your petition you ask for a general leave, .... In or- 
der to effect this, we should have to notify all the command- 
ers of his Majesty's ships and troops to allow every one to 
pass and repass, which would cause the greatest confusion. 
The Province would be open to all sorts of people, to stran- 
gers, and even to savages. . . . The only manner in which 
you can withdiaw from this Province is that all persons 
wishing to leave shall provide themselves with our own pass- 
port, aod we declare that nothing shall prevent us from giv- 
ing passports to all those who as£ for them, the moment tLat 
peace and tranquillity are reestablished in the Province. 

44 in the present state of the Province we are surprised 
that you thought of asking for such leave. You know that 
the savages are assembled at Chignecto, furnished with ev- 
erything and protected by a French detachment. You know 
you will have to pass these French detachments and savages, 
and that they compel the inhabitants who go there to take 
up arms. I am to presume you pay no attention to this. 
It is a demand I can by no means grant." 

" And as we are not ignorant of the oad consequences of 
those assemblies, where often the most honest people are 
led usoiay by some seditious persons, we positively forbid, 
for the iuture, all assemblies of the inhabitants, except for 
some important business, wnen they shall have the permis- 
sion of the commander and when he or some one for him shall 
be present. I recommend you to remain quietly in your 
setuements, occupied about your own affairs, until we shall 
see the present disturbances settled " 

Though the foregoing is couched in very plausible Ian- 



ItfO ACADIA 

guage — the language a father wouid use toward a son whons 
he loved — it is difficult to reconcile the various orders ema- 
nating from the Halifax government. At one time the 
French Neutrals are told to take the unqualified Oath o€ 
Allegiance, or accept the alternative of leaving the country 
without the privilege of selling their property or taking 
with them their effects ; and when they come to- ask per- 
mission to leave on the lattev rufous- conditions, they are 
plainly told they cannot be permitted to leave the country. . 
The English, as they themselves declare, were averse to hav- 
ing the twenty thousand Acadians join their enemies in* 
Canada and elsewhere — the threat therefore that they must 
take the oath or leave the colony could not have been made 
in good faith. Those who are disposed to condemn the 
course of the Acadians in not accepting so many blessings 
as promised by Governor Cornwallis, by so easy a matter 
as subscribing to an oath, and so secure all that earth could 
give, have but to imagine the condition of the Acadians had 
they subscribed to the oath, in case the Province again re- 
verted to French domination, as it was, to all appearance 
likely to do at any time. With Papist priests and Canadian 
Governors on one hand, and the English on the other, the 
poor Acadian French, distrusted by both, with ruin staring 
them in the face, military quartered among them, property 
taken by force by friend and foe alike, — their condition 
was truly deplorable. 

The following letter from La Loutre addressed to M. 
Bigot,* Commissary of New France, dated Bay Verte Aug- 

* Seven miles iroin Quebec are the ruins of a mansion, consisting o£ 
gables and division- wall, in thick masonry, with a deep cellar, outside of 
which are heaps of debris, over which grow alders and lilacs. This cha- 
teau was occupied by the last Eoyal Intendant, M. Bigot, a dissolute and 
licentious French satrap, who stole $2, 000, 000 from the treasury. Tho 
legend tells us that Bigot used this building for a hunting lodge and place 
of revels, and that once, while pursuing a bear among the hills, he got 
lost, and was guided back to the chateau by a lovely Algonquin maideu 



FALL OP 3EAT7SEJOTTR 161 

loth, 1730. not only shows the powers exercised by that 
worldly priest, but likewise exhibits the condition of the 
families of the Neutra's at this period. The letter was found 
on a captured sloop taken from the French by the British 
ship, Trial: 

"I send you the ship London. M. de Bonaventure is to 
write to you by this opportunity to ask you for provisions, 
not being able to get any from Louisbourg for the subsist- 
ence of the refugee families. If the four vessels that you 
promised us had arrived, we would have sent some flour 
to Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island) ; but for the pres- 
ent we cannot do so. We have here a great many people to 
support, and in the autumn we shall have an increase of 
more than sixty families from Beaubassin, and the rivers 
which are beyond our claims, who have not sown at all, in 
order to withdraw to our territories. 

" The inhabitants of Cobequid are to decide as soon as 
they hear from France. They will make the number one 
hundred fami.ies. Perhaps we shall have some from Minas 
ii they can escape. You see that we require provisions; 
and it would be exposing these families to perish, not to be 

in a condition to help them The Canabas who were 

on the Chebucto road have seized the letters of the English 
who were writing to Minas and Port Royal. I will nave 
them sent to you by the first courier. 

*'Ii all our savages were Frenchmen we should not be 
embarrassed ; but the wretches get tired, and will perhaps 
leave us in our greatest need. They are getting tired at not 
hearing from France ; and it is very surprising there are no 
letters for us, although a vessel has arrived at Louisbourg 

basing three hundred soldiers on board We are waiting 

here only for news from France to decide upon our course." 

Gov. Cornwallis and his Council, having decided the erec- 
tion of a fort at Chignecto a necessity for the proper guard- 



xvhom lie had met in the forest. She remained in this building a long 
time, in a luxurious boudoir, and was visited frequently by the Intend- 
ant ; but one night she was assassinated by some unknown person, either 
M. Bigot" s wife or her own mother, to avenge the dishonor 10 her tribe. 



162 ACADIA 

ing of their interests on the Peninsula, Lieut.-Col. Lawrence 
was sent there in September, with a strong force to erect 
one. The French and Indians opposed their landing, but 
were driven off after a sharp skirmish. A short distance 
south of the Misseguash, opposite Fort Beausejour, on a 
considerable elevation, Lawrence commenced the erection of 
a picketed fort, aud a block-house, which he named after him- 
self . Though the two crowns were then at peace, here were 
two fortifications on opposite sides of the Misseguash, 
manned by so'diers of different nationalities, between which 
Bomething very similar to a state of warfare existed. 




FALL OF BEAUSEJOUB. 



As has been before intimated, the campaign against Nova 
Scotia was undertaken at the expense and under the author- 
ity of the British Crown. The troops, however, were drawn 
from among the colonists of New England, and acted under 
their own officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Moncton held the 
command of the expedition, but the soldiers from Massa- 
chusetts, consisting of two battalions, of which Governor 
Shirley was Colonel, were led by Lieutenant-Colonel John 
"Winslow of Marshfield. Haiburton says of Winsiow that 
he was "a gentleman of one of the most ancient and honor- 
able families in the Province, who held a commission of 
Major-General in the Militia, and whose influence was so 
great as to effect the raising of two thousand men in about 
two mouths, to serve for the term of one year if so long re- 
quired." 

The fleet, with about two thousand men on board, set 
sail from Boston on the 20th of May, and in five days reached 
Annapolis. Then taking on board about three hundred of 
Warburton's regiment, and a small train of artillery, they 
bore away for Chignecto, where they arrived on the 2nd of 
June, and the following day the troops landed and en camp- 
ed around Fort Lawrence. Vergor, then in command at 
Fort Beausej our, called in all his available forces, se ding 
an order to the Acadians to come to his assistance ohree 



184 ACADIA 

hundred of whom obeyed under compulsion.* On the 4th 
of that month the New England troops were set in motion. 
The first resistance was met at Pont a Buot, a few miles east 
of Beausejour, where was a block-house and a strong breast- 
work of timber. A spirited attack was made on this place, 
and the French were driven out of the works after an hour's 
hard fighting; following up their advantage, the English 
pressed upon the block-house, which was soon abandoned 
and set on fire, the enemy seeking the cover* of Fort Eeau- 
sejour. From the block-house Colonel Moncton advanced 
to w.thin half a league of the French fortress, and invested 
that place with his little army. As the French retired they 
set tire to all the houses between Pont a Buot and Beause- 
jcur, to the Lumber of sixty, and before night all were in 
ruins, not even excepting the church. For more than a 
weei: the English were employed in getting their cannon 
over the river, cutting a road through the woods, and loca- 
ting a battery on the high ground behind the fort. The. 
French in the meantime had been actively employed in 
strengthening the place. On the 13th the guns opened on 
Fort Beausejour; the following Jay they fired small shelia 
from trenches dug within seven hundred feet of the wal.s. 
Vergor had been expecting help from Louisbourg, to which 
place he had sent for assistance when first hearing of Mono- 
ton's approach : he was doomed to disappointment — the 
commander at Louisbourg sending word he could give him 
no men as he was himself threatened with an English squad- 
ron. Many of the Acadians deserted; the rest as^ed per- 
mission to letire, which was refused. On the 16t.b, a large 
shell rolled into one of the casemates, killing an English 
prisoner by the name of Hay, and three French officers. 



*JTaimay states, the Acadian French were willing to take up arms 
against the English, and that this protesting against aiding tho Firanch 
was only a subterfuge, in case the refugees afterward fell into jjaigiish 
power. He gives no authority for the statement, however. 



TALL OF BEAUSEJOUR 165 

The same day Vergor sent an officer to Moncton for a sus- 
pension of hostilities ; terms of surrender were agreed upon 
and the same evening the English entered the fort. 

The terms of capitulation granted by the victorious New 
England General were — that the soldiers should go out of 
the garrison bearing their arms ; that they should be given 
a passage by sea to Louisbourg ; and they agreed not to bear 
arms in America for six months. The Acadians, who had 
been forced to take up arms on pain of death, were par- 
doned.* 

" In the evening, Vergor gave a supper, at which the offi- 
cers of both armies were present : but there was one well- 
known face absent from the board. The Abbe la Iioutre, 
seeing no clause in the terms of capitulation that would 
cover his case, had withdrawn from the fort just before the 
English entered it. His career, as an agitator and political 
incendiary, was ended. The result of all his schemes had 
been simply his own ruin, and that of the cause for which 
he bad labored. As in his disguise, and concealed by the 
shadows of the evening, he w T ended his way toward the 
northern wilderness, an outcast and a fugitive, it may pos- 
sibly have occurred to him that his political mission was a 
mistake; that he would have done better had he taken the 
advice of his Bishop, and attended to the duties of his office 
as a missionary priest When he got to Quebec, after 



*3o says Hannay. Minot says it was "stipulated that they should be 
left in the same situation that they were in when the army arrived, and 
not be punishsd for what they had done afterwards. " This we believe to 
be the only instance in which a considerable body of the Neutral French 
were ever found in arms against the English : and, as the above authorities 
state, they were pardoned. Yet the English were wont to justify their 
cruel measure of expatriating the whole French people from their 
country, mainly on the ground of this act. It is difficult to perceive the 
justice of condemning the three hundred for an offense that had been 
pardoned ; much less the equity of considering a whole nation guilty of 
a crime that was committed by a few only. 



166 



ACADIA 



a fatiguing journey through the wilderness, he met with a 
cold reception from the Governor, and was bitterly re- 
proached by the Bishop for his unclerical conduct."* 

Colonel Moncton, after putting a garrison in the captur- 
ed fortress aDd changing its name to Fort Cumberland, in 
honor of the Koyal Duke who had won the victory at Collo- 
den, next marched against Bay Verte on the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. He promptly reduced that place, where he found a 
large quantity of provisions, ammunition and stores of all 
kinds, that being the port from which these articles were sup- 
plied to the French. He likewise disarmed the Acadian ref- 
ugees in that vicinity, numbering about fifteen hundred. 
The fortifications at St. John harbor, a few days later, which 
had but just been raised, were blown up and destroyed at 
the approach of the English. During all these operations 
the New England troops lost only about twenty men killed, 
and the same number wounded. The French forts on the 
Peninsula having been reduced and French power broken, 
the expedition was at liberty to proceed with the business 
of removing the French from the territory. 



*Hannay. 



PRELIMINAKY TO EXPULSION. 



"The year 1755 commenced with preparations for dis- 
lodging the French from their encroachments." So wrote 
Haliburton. He might have written, the year commenced 
with preparations for forcibly removing the French from 
the soil that had been theirs by inheritance for four succes- 
sive generations, extending over more than a century and a 
quarter of peaceable possession. 

"Perhaps," says another historian,* "those who examine 
the whole matter impartially, in the light of all the facts, 
will come to the conclusion that it would have been a real 
cause for shame had the Acadians been permitted longer to 
misuse the clemency of the government, to plot against 
British power,! and to obstruct the settlement of the Prov- 
ince by loyal subjects." % 

"Haniiay. 

t Governor Mascarene writes to the Duke of Newcastle in 1742, after 
nearly thirty years of English rale in Acadia, "The frequent rumors we 
have had of war being declared against France, have not as yet made any 
alteration in the temper of the inhabitants of this Province, who appear 
in a good disposition of keeping to their oath of Fidelity. " 

| A disclosure of the motives of the English is given by Lawrence in a 
letter to the Board of Trade, Oct. 18, 1755, in which he acknowledges the 
following : "As soon as the French are gone, I shall use my best endeav- 
ors to encourage people to come from the Continent to settle their lands, 
juid if I succeed in this point we shall soon be in a condition of supplying 



J 168 ACADIA 



c 



n In "Walsh's Appeal," where the author speaks of Win- 

slow's campaign against Nora Scotia, we find these words — - 
"This officer, General Winslow T of an exceptionable and 
elevated character, left upon record the expression of his 
disgust and horror in submitting to act the part which wa& 
imposed upon him by the British authority. I transcribe 
some of the shocking details from Minot.' 7 Extolling one's 
character and condemning his acts as shocking, all in the 
same breath ! 



sei 

io\ 

ruj 
we 



ar. 

se 

to 

£, Entick, a writer of no mean authority y whose account is 

the principal one through which the affair is circumstantially 

known to the readers of English history, speaks in this 

wise : — 

" General Lawrence pursued his success,, and was obliged 

to use much severity, to extirpate the French and Indiaus y 

a- who refused to conform to the ;aws of Great Britain, or to 

p rt swear allegiance to our sovereign, and had engaged to join 

8 j. r€ the French troops in the spring,, expected to arrive from old 

ji " France, as early as possible on that coast or at Louis-bo urg , 

f V0I some of whom, with ammunition, stores, &c, fell into the 

y er hands of our cruisers off Cape Breton. General Lawrence 

p] ac did not only pursue those dangerous inhabitants with fire 

t on ' and sword, laying the country waste,, burning their dwell- 

com ings, and carrying off their stock '; but he thought it expe- 

no u dient for his Majesty's service to transport the French Neu- 

ron trals, so as entirely to extirpate a people, that only waited 

mi ss an opportunity to join the enemy. This measure was very 

she}] commendable. But the execution of it was not quite so 

prise prudent. The method taken by the General to secure the 



*j] ourselves ■with provisions, and I hope in time to be able to strike off the 

a^aiiis great expense of victualling the troops. This was one of the happy effects 

was or I proposed to myself from driving the French off the isthmus ; and the 

power. additional circumstance of the inhabitants evacuating the country will, I 

flatter myself, greatly hasten this event, as it furnishes us with a large 

quantity of good land ready for immediate cultivation. " 



PRELIMTNARI TO EXPULSION 



169 



Province from this pest, wa^ to distribute them, in number 
about seven thousand, among the British Colonies, in that 
rigorous season of winter, almost naked and without money 
or effects to help themselves." 

While Entick makes a candid statement of the violent pro- 
cedure of the English against the Neutrals, we cannot fail 
to observe how adroitly he introduces the expression "dan- 
gerous inhabitants," "who only wanted an opportunity to 
join the enemy,"* "pests," and such like epithets, by way of 
justifying the act. We leave the reader who, in the forego- 
ing pages, has had the same sources of information put be- 
fore him, to judge whether those expressions are deserved. 
The documents copied, as before stated are most of them 
from English authors from an English standpoint, and we 
should expect would be colored to favor the English if color- 
ed at all, stili less is it likely they would favor the French 
more than facts will warrant. All the papers and docu- 
ments in possession of the Acadians were taken from them 
at the time of their expulsion or previous thereto ; as lew 
or none of them have ever come to light, we have the right 
to presume they were purposely destroyed — as the law- 
breaker undertakes to cover up all traces of his guilt, with 
the view of escaping censure for his acts. 

The historian, Minot, speaking of the French Neutrals, 
says, their character and situation were so peculiar as "to 
distinguish them from almost every other community that 
has suffered under the scourge of war. They were the 
descendants of those French inhabitants of Nova Scotia, 
who, after the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, by which the Prov- 
ince was ceded to England, were permitted to hold their 



* This same Governor Lawrence, in a letter written the year previous 
to the Lords of Trade, says : "I believe that a very large part of the in- 
habitants would submit to any terms rather than take up arms on either 
6ide. " Which assertion is the more truthful ! 



170 ACADIA 

lands, on condition of making a declaration of allegiance to 
their new sovereign, which acknowledgment of fidelity was 
given under an express stipulation that they and their pos- 
terity should not be required to bear arms, either against 
their Indian neighbors or trans- Atlantic countrymen. This 
contiact was at several periods revived, and renewed to their 
children ; and such was the notoriety of the compact, that 
for half a century, they bore the name, and with some ex- 
ceptions, maintained the character, of Neutrals." 

We next quote from a declaration of the French Neutrals 
themselves, on this point, who were living in exiie in Penn- 
sylvania at the time it was made, and who had petitioned 
King George of Great Britain to take cognizance of their 
sufferings : 

"It is a matter of certainty, (and within the compass of 
some of our memories,) that in the year 1730, General Phil- 
lips, the Governor of Nova Scotia, did in your Majesty's 
name confirm to us, and all the inhabitants of the whole ex- 
tent of the Bay of Minas and rivers thereunto belonging, 
the free and entire possession of those lands we were then 
possessed of, which by grants from the former French Gov- 
ernment we held to us and our heirs forever, on paying the 
customary quit-rents, &c. And on condition we should be- 
have with due submission and fidelity to your Majesty, 
agreeably to the oath which was then administered to us, 
which is as follows: "We sincerely promise and swear by 
the faith of a Christian, that we shall be entirely faithful, 
and will truly submit ourselves to his Majesty, King George, 
whom we acknowledge as sovereign Lord of New Scotland 
or Arcadia: so God help us." And at the same time the 
said Phillips did, in like manner, promise the said French in- 
habitants in your Majesty's name, that they should have 
the true exercise of their religion and be exempted from 
bearing arms and from being employed in war either against 
the French or Indians : Under the sanction of this solemn 



PRELIMINABY TO EXPULSION 171 

engagement we held our lands, made further purchases, and 
annually paying our quit-rents, and we had the greatest 
reason to conclude that your Majesty did not disapprove of 
the above agreement." 

That this charge was never denied may be taken as an 
evidence of the truth of the asseveration. The British 
ministry made no effort to explain, or contradict the allega- 
tion. 

Governor Lawrence writes to Secretary of State Nov. 30, 
1755 : " The people .... were by us commonly called 
the Deserted French Inhabitants, because they were univers- 
ally, as well as the other inhabitants, the descendants of those 
French left in Nova Scotia at the treaty of Utrecht ; and had 
taken the Oath of Allegiance to his Majesty in the time of 
General Phillips' government, with the reserve of not bear- 
ing arms ! " 

We prefer that the melancholy story of the French Neu- 
trals shall be told by those who were best acquainted with 
their circumstances and were living among them. We shall 
therefore draw largely from the documents of that period. 
Governor Hopson, who succeeded Cornwallis in Aug., 1752, 
thus writes to the Lords of Trade under date of the 10th day 
of December : 

"I should be glad to have your Lordships' opinion as 
early in the spring as possible, concerning the oaths I am to 

tender to the French inhabitants Mr. Cornwallis can 

inform you how difficult, if not impossible, it may be to force 
such a thing upon them, and what ill consequences may at- 
tend it. As they appear to be better disposed than they 
have been, and I hope will still amend and in a long course 
of time become less scrupulous, I beg to know in the spring 
how far his Majesty would approve my silence on this head 
till a more convenient opportunity. Mr. Cornwallis can in- .* 
form you how useful and necessary these people are to us, 



172 



ACADIA 



how impossible it is to do without them, or to replace them 
even if we had other settlers to put in their places, and at 
the same time will acquaint you how obstinate they have 
always been when the oaths have been offered." 

Governor Hopson seems to have counseled a mild and for- 
bearing deportment towards the French people. He direct- 
ed his soldiers to take nothing from them by force, or set 
any price upon the goods but what they themselves agreed 
to; that upon all occasions they were to be treated as his 
Majesty's subjects, to whom the laws of the country were 
open, to protect as well as to punish. 

The considerate demeanor of Governor Hopson, thus 
shown toward the French inhabitants, would seem to have 
had its effects if we can judge from a letter written by him 
to the Lords of Trade the following July. After some pre- 
liminary remarks in relation to the state of the Province, he 
goes on to say: 

"As the almost continual war we have with the Indians 
prevents our mixing- any English settlers among thepe in- 
habitants, or instituting any sort of civil jurisdiction among 
them, they have hitherto been left open to the insinuatioas 
and evil practices of French priests and other emissaries 
that are sent amongst tbem from Canada and the French 
forfc at Beausejour, who have at all times been endeavoring 
to prejudice them against an English government, and to 
■neisuade them that the country they live in will shortly 
all into the hands of the French either by negotiations or 
by force of arms. Though these doctrines would not fail of 
their desired effect with so ignorant and so bigoted a peo- 
ple, yet no event happening in all this time towards the ac- 
complishment of their predictions, the inhabitants began to 
suspect they were deceived, and even some few of those who 
had deserted their lands returned again into the Province, 
and I have been privately informed that the inhabitants went 
so far as to hold consultation whether they should not thiow 
themselves under the protection of the English government 
and become subjects to all intents and purposes; but thero 
arose a very considerable objection to this step, which was 



PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 173 

that as they lived on farms very remote from one another, 
and of couise are not capat^e of resisting any kind of enemy, 
the French might send the Indians among thorn a^d distress 
them to such a degree that they wo aid not be able to re- 
main on their faims, which apprehension fchey were soon 
confirmed in by the arrival of the Abbe La Loutre at Bay 
Yeite, where he has just now assembled the Indians." 

About the middle of September, 1753, the French inhabit- 
ants sent a petition to Governor Hopson, begging that the 
missionaries might be exempted from taking the Oath of 
Allegiance, They said they hoped his Excellency would 
.grant that favor, inasmuch as, when thsy took the oath, it 
was on condition they should be allowed the free exercise 
of tbeir religion, and a sufficient number of ministers to per- 
form the services. If this oath were required of the mission- 
aries they would not remain among the people. They said 
the priest Daudin "who bas lately come hither for the 
purpose of instructing us, has determined to return should 
this oath be required of him." The Governor and Council, 
on consideration, were of the belief that the French author- 
ities had ordered the priests not to take any oath, which 
would have the effect of depriving the Neutrals of their 
priests, and so induce them to quit the Province ; it was 
thought best therefore to grant the petition. 

Two weeks later Governor Hopson received a petition 
from the Deserted French Inhabitants, those who had vol- 
untarily left their Acadian farms and were supplied with 
rations by the French Government. In this petition they 
stated their reason for leaving their property ' k was the new 
oath which his Excellency Mr. Cornwailis wished to exact 
from us, desiring to break and revoke the one granted to us 
on the 11th of October, 1727, by Gov. Armstrong." Hav- 
ing learned that if willing to return they would be granted 
the same favors as were given them by Armstrong, they 
proposed to negotiate with the English with that end in 



174 ACADIA 

view. They were willing to accept of the oath as follows^ 

" Je promets et jure sin cerement que je serai fidele a La 
Majeste le Roi George Second et a ses successeurs, Dieu 
me soit en aide." 

[I sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful to 
his Majesty King George the Second and to his successors. 
So help me God.] 

The Deserted French also desired the following articles,, 
which they claim were granted them by Governor Phillips 
on which conditions they were willing to return to their 
farms : — That they be exempted from taking up arms against 
any one whatever, and not be forced to act as pilots ; that 
they shall be free to sell their effects and withdraw from the 
Province at any time : and that they have the full enjoy- 
ment of their religion with as many priests as they desire.* 

The Council decided to tender them the oath in these 

words : " Je • Promets ei Jure sincerement que Je serai 

fidele, et que Je porterai une Loyante parfaite vers Sa Maj- 
este le Roi George Second. 

Ainsi que Dieu me Soit en Aide." 

and that such of the inhabitants as shall on or before the 
20th day of November next take the foregoing oath, shall 
be admitted to return to a peaceable possession of their 
lands at Chignecto, shall enjoy the free exercise of their re- 
ligion, and be accorded all the privileges granted them by 
the treaty of Utrecht. 



*The Deserted French Inhabitants, in a memorial for a renewal of 
their privileges to Governor Hopson in 1753, makes the charge of lack of 
fidelity on the part of the English in these words : "We hope that these 
articles will be granted us by your Excellency, and even ratified by the 
C ourt of England, so that those who may succeed your Excellency shall 
not make the pretext that Oornwallis made in saying that Governor Phil- 
lips had no authority from the Court of England for the oath he granted 



PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 175 

Id June of the following year the French Deserted Inhab- 
itants made answer that unless they could be assured that 
they would not be required to bear arms, they could not 
possibly think of returning to their possessions. 

Governor Hopson was succeeded by Governor Lawrence; 
the reader cannot fail to note the change in the tone of the 
letters sent to the home government relative to the French 
Neutrals. Lawrence proved himself the sort of ruler that 
was needed to carry out the harsh measures of the year 
17-55 to a successful issue. Writing to the Lords of Trade 
he complains of the "many inconveniences he has long la- 
bored under from their obstinacy, treachery, partiality to 
their own countrymen, and their ingratitude for the favor, 
indulgence and protection, they have at all times so unde- 
servedly receive., from his Majesty's Government." 

Just how much "protection" the French Inhabitants 
were the ungrateful recipients of may be learned by a letter 
from Governor Hopson to the Lords of Trade of a previous 
date, in which he says — "Exclusive of the difficulty that at- 
tends marching after Indians in a country like this, I assure 
your Lordship that the troops are so divided in keeping the 
different posts at Chignecto, Annapolis Eoyal, Minas, Pizi- 
quid, Lunenburgh, Dartmouth, George's Island, Fort Sack- 
ville and Halifax, that I have not at present a detachment 
to spare from hence even upon the most urgent occasion." 

Governor Lawrence continues: 



" Your Lordships well know they have always affected a 
neutrality, and as it has been generally imagined here, that 
the mildness of the English Government would by degrees 
have hxed them in our interest, no violent measures have 
ever been taken with them. But this lenity has not had the 
least good effect ; on the contrary, I believe they have at 
present laid aside all thoughts of taking the oaths volunta- 
rily, and great numbers of them are at present gone to 
Beausejour to work for the French, in order to dike out the 



176 ACADIA 

water at the settlement they were going to make on the 
north side of the Bay of Fundy r notwithstanding they were 
refused passes which they applied for to go thither. And 
upon their complaining they could get no work of the Eng- 
lish, they were acquainted that as many as- would come to 
Halifax should be employed, though,- in reality I had do 
employment for them, but I proposed to order them to 
widen the road to Shubenacadia, as I very well knew if I 
could get them once here it would put off their journey to 
Beausejour, and would be no expense to the government, as 
I was sure they would refuse the work for fear of disoblig- 
ing the Indians. But as they did not come, I have, by ad- 
vice of the Council, issued a proclamation? ordering them 
to return forthwith to the lands, as they should answer the 
contrary at their peril. They have not for a long time 
brought anything to our markets, but on the other hand 
have carried everything to the French and Indians whom 
they have always assisted with provisions, quarters, and in- 
telligence, and indeed while they remain without taking the 
oaths to his Majesty (which they will never do till they are 
forced) and have incendiary French priests among them,, 
tnere are no hopes of amendment. As they possess the best 
and largest tracts of land in this Province, it cannot be set- 
tled [by the English} with any effect while they remain in 
this situation, and though I would be very far from at tempt- 
ing such a step without your Lordship's approbation, yet I 
cannot help being of opinion that it would be much better, 
if they rei'use the oaths, that they were away. 

"The only ill consequence that can attend their going, 
would be their taking arms and joining with the Indians to 
distress our settlements, as they are numerous and our 
troops much divided ; though indeed I believe that a very 
large part of the inhabitants would submit to any terms 
rattier than take up arms on either side ; but that is only 
my conjecture, and not singly to be depended upon in so 
critical a circumstance. However it" your Lordships should 
be of opinion that we are not sufficiently established to take 
so important a step, we could prevent many inconveniences 
by building a fort, or a few block-houses, on Shubenacadia 
liiver. . . . 

"The Chignecto inhabitants have repeated their applica- 
tion for le-auinission to their lands, but were acquainted it 



I 
# 

T- 

r 




PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 177 

were useless to think of it without an absolute compliance 
on their part. I was privately informed that at their return 
they were in a very ill humor with La Loutre, and with the 
French Commandant, and that they represented to them the 
hardships they labored under in not being suffered to accept 
the proposals of the English in a remonstrance that I am 
told was "little short of mutiny." 

The above letter would seem to be a fair statement of the 
true situation. First, the French were in possession of the 
richest lands and the English could not settle until the 
French were driven out ; second, it was feared that the 
French, if expelled, would join the enemies of the country, 
and endanger the English colonies ; and Lawrence admits in 
the concluding paragraph, that the French Acadians were 
well disposed, but prevented from swearing allegiance by 
the threats of La Loutre. 

The following is among the documents of the period now 
under consideration : 

" The bearers hereof being in all twenty-five persons are 
just arrived here from Louisbourg from whence they made 
their escape to avoid starving. Some of them were former- 
ly inhabitants of this country, and are near.y related to old 
Labrador ; they have all taken the oaths : the colonel desires 
you would treat them kindly, order them to be victualled, 
to have tools given them, and land laid out for them where 
you shall see most convenient. Wm. Cotterell." 

On the 17th of September, Governor Lawrence issued a 
proclamation, forbidding the exportation of corn from the 
Province, " under a penalty of fifty pounds and a forfeiture 
of the corn so shipped, one half to the informer, the other 
to the use and support of his Majesty's government." 

The reasons given in the "order book" for the corn act 
are, first, to prevent the supplying of corn to the Indians 
and their abettors who reside on the north side of the Bay 



173 ACADIA 

of Fundy ; and second, for the better supply of the Halifax 
market, which bad hitherto been obliged to furnish itseli 
from other colonies, notwithstanding the great quantities of 
grain produced at Minas, Piziquid and Canard, and which 
has hitherto been transported to Beausejour and St. John's 
River. The inhabitants were not "constrained to sell to 
any particular person or at any fixed price ; all that is insist- 
ed on is their supplying the Halifax market before they think 
of sending corn anywhere else. Their desiring to sell their 
grain to Mr. Dyson and refusing it to Mr. Manger for the 
same money appears very extraordinary." 

This statement does not fully accord with the instructions 
of Governor Lawrence to Captain Murray; — "You are not 
to bargain with this people for their payment, but furnish 
them with certificates, which will entitle them at Halifax to 
r ceive such payments as shall be thought reasonable, and 
assuring them if they do not immediately comply, the ne.vt 
courier will bring an order for their execution." Murray is 
the same who complained of the insolence and want of re- 
spect shown towards him by the French messengers who 
waited upon him. He was in command of a haudrui of 
men at Fort Edward (now Windsor), and like other up- 
start despots, laboring under an abiding sense of his own 
importance, clothed with absolute authority over life and 
property, and secure in the fact that French evidence would 
not be received against him, he was not likely to be at a loss 
for a pretext to display his authority. 

Trouble having arisen at Fort Edward, Piziquid, the in- 
habitants having refused to bring wood to the fort, Captain 
Murray, in command of the English force there, took Dau- 
din, a priest and four other prisoners, and sent them under 
guard to Halifax. Daudin, who was charged with being the 
cause of the trouble, "having created much discontent 
among the inhabitants, those who w T ere very quiet and obe- 
dient in his absence," was ordered to leave the country; 



PP.ELIMTNABY TO EXPULSION 179 

while the other Frenchmen "were severely reprimanded and 
exhorted to return immediately and bring in the wood as 
had been ordered, which duty if they neglected any longer 
to perform they would certainly suffer military execution." 

Early in October of that year, the Governor acquainted 
the Council that six Deserted French families were arrived 
at Halifax, and desired to be permitted to return to their 
lands. They declared that they were so terrified by the 
threats that La Loutre had used, and his declaring the great 
distresses they would be reduced to if they remained un- 
der the dominion of the English, that they retired and had 
been set down on the Island of Cape Breton, where they 
had remained ever since ; but that the land being so very 
bad they were utterly incapable of supporting their families, 
and had obtained consent of the Governor of Louisbourg to 
return. They further declared that if the Council would 
permit them to enjoy their former lands, that tbey were will- 
ing to take the oath, and that their future behavior should 
be unexceptionable. 

The Council were of opinion that the return of these De- 
serted French families, and their voluntarily taking the oath 
without any reservation, would have a good effect; they 
therefore granted them permission to return to their pos- 
sessions, and allowed the most needy among them provis- 
ions for the winter. 

Thomas Pichon, a young medical student of Marseilles, 
was, subsequent to 1753, a commissary of stores for the 
French forces at Beau sej our. He furnished the English 
with all possible information of the priest La Loutre, and 
the state of the garrison at Beausejour, until the fall of that 
place in 1755. Pichon was ostensibly made prisoner with 
the rest of the garrison ; when arjparently on parole at Hal- 
ifax, he made intimacy with the French officers of rank de- 
tained there, and reported their plans and conversations to 
the Halifax government, for which information he was paid. 



180 ACADIA 

In 1758 he went to London, where he resided up to the time 
of his death. We give a portion of a communication from 
him to Captain Scott : 

" Daudin's affair is causing a good deal of noise. On Sun- 
day Moses * preached a most violent sermon, in which he 
singularly accommodated the British nation, and concluded 
by saying offensive things to.the refugees, whose crimes are, 
in his estimation, the sole cause of the detention of a hojy 
man. He afterwards represented to them what they — the 
refugees — had to expect from the English. That when they 
return to the other side, they will have neither priests nor 
sacraments, but will die like miserable wretches. The ve- 
hemence, or rather the petulance with which he preached, 
exhausted him to such an extent that he had to go at it twice. 
He then told these refugees to appear, after mass, at the 
Commandant's, who had a letter from the General of Cana- 
da for them. The refugees did not come, however. De 
Vergor, (the Commandant at Fort Beausejour,) sent a ser- 
geant twice to summon them ; a score of them arrived in the 
fort. As they seemed in no hurry to enter, the impatient 
commander went to his door and called them himself, and in 
order to induce them to enter more rapidly, he threatened 
to put them in irons, and spoke to them in the harshest 
manner. 

"The tendency of the letter is to urge them to stay with 
the French and to establish themselves. It promises them 
various assistance. This letter, as you can well imagine, 
had been prepared at the instance of Moses himself. These 
poor people retired without compliment. Moses was pres- 
ent and played the part of Aaron — he was spokesman. De 
Vergor stutters. . . . 

" On the 21st of last month, eighty-three of the refugees 
sent two of their deputies to carry their petition to the Gov- 



'Pichon speaks of La Loutre always by the name of Moses. 



PRELTHIKART TO EXPTTLSTON 181 

ernoT of Canada, asking for authority to return to their old 
possessions, since we cannot give them laud on this side 
suitable for cultivation ; and stating that those which are 
offered them are in places disputed by the English 4 — that 
they are not released from the oath which they have taken 
to the King of Great Britain; and that if taken amoug the 
French, they are threatened with being punished as crimi- 
nals. , , , In the meantime, Moses declared at the altar, to 
the refugees who signed the request, that if they did not 
come to his house and retract what they had done, and ef- 
face then* marks with their spittle, they should have no par- 
adise to look forward to, nor sacraments to go to. There 
are several who have not dared to refuse acquiescence in 
such strong and powerful reasons.'' 

Pichon craftily observes of the above letter that some of 
the French complain the English know what is going on at 
Fort Beausejoui — little surmising that he, their trusted sec- 
retary, is the informant. 

It will be seen to what extremities the poor refugees were 
reduced. On one hand threatened with the vengeance of 
the savages, and denied the sacraments and hopes of future 
bliss in case they returned into English territory ; on the oth- 
er, the absolute certainty of being executed as traitors if 
found with the French in case of declaration of war between 
France and England, 

We append a petition of the inhabitants of Cobequid to 
those of Beaubassin, which is among the papers furnished 
by Pichon: 

""While we were in the enjoyment of peace, Lieut. Gorham 
came with sixty men to John Robert's. He came steakruiy 
and at night, and carried off our pastor and four deputies. 
He read his instructions, by whicn he is ordered to seize up- 
on all the guns found in our houses, and consequently to 
reduce us to a condition similar to that of the Irish. Gor- 
ham has returned to John Robert's. He has pitcned nia 
camp there, and expects his brother witn a nunarea men. 



182 ACADIA 

"He is preparing to establish there a block-house and" m 
small fort, in order to obstruct the roads and prevent the 
departure of the inhabitants. There is no doubt that the* 
English, early in the spring, will place vessels to guard the 
passage of the entrance. Thus we see ourselves on the very 
brink of ruin, exposed to be carried off, and transported to 
the English islands, and to lose our religion. 

"Under these unhappy circumstances,- we have recourse 
to your charity; and we earnestly ask you to assist us in 
getting out of the hands of the English^ and in withdraw- 
ing ourselves to French territory, where we can enjoy the 
exercise of our religion. We ask you to strike a blow ; and 
aft^r we have driven Gorharo from our parish* we will all 
go for our brothers at Piziquid, Grand Pre and Port Koyai, 
who will join us for the purpose of delivering themseiven- 
from the slavery with which they are threatened. We do- 
not seek to make war. If the country belongs to the Eng- 
lish, we will give it up to them j but as we are the masters 
of our own persons, we wish absolutely to leave it. 

"It is your brothers who ask you for help; and we think 
that the charity, reiigion, and union that have always exist- 
ed between us, will constrain you to come aud rescue us- 
We are waiting for you : you know that the time is hurry- 
ing on, and we oeg you to send us a prompt rep.y. 

" This is what I have been requested to write to you, gen- 
tlemen, in faith of which I have signed the present petition. 

"J. L. La Louthe." 

Among Pichon's papers is also a petition of the Acadian, 
inhabitants to the King of France, imploring his protection,, 
stating their grievances against the English government,, 
and asking grants of French territory adjoining Acadia. 

The Lords of Trade wrote to Governor Lawrence under 
date of October, 1754; they say: "As to the inhabitants of 
the district of Chignecto, who are actually gone over to the 
French at Beau se jour, if the Chief Justice should be of opin- 
ion that by refusing to take the oaths without a reserve, or 
by deserting their settlements to join the French, they have 
forfeited their title to their lands, we could wish that prop- 
er measures were pursued for carrying such forfeiture into 



PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 183 

■execution by legal process, to the end you might grant them 
to any persons desirous of settling there, where we appre- 
hend a settlement would be of great utility, if it could, in 
the present state of things, be effected; and as Mr. Shirley* 
has ninted in a letter to the Earl of Halifax thab there is a 
probability of getting a considerable number of people from 
New England to settle, you would do well to consult him 
upon it ; but it appears to us that every idea of an English 
•settlement at this place would be absurd, but upon a suppo- 
sition that the French forts Beausejour, Bay Yerte, &c., are 
destroyed, the Indians forced from then* settlements, and 
the French driven to seek such an asylum as they can find 
in the barren islands of Cape Breton and St. John, and in 
Canada." 

In the foregoing we have documentary proof that the 
Lords of Trade, the Governor of Acadia and the Governor 
of Massachusetts, were discussing the feasibility of dispos- 
sessing the French Acadians of their valuable lands, with 
the avowed purpose of settling English colonists thereon. 
This is in the face of the assertion of some historians that 
bo sach motive was entertained by those who took part in 
the removal of the French. f 

We have before adverted to the character of Abbe La 



* Governor Shirley of Massachusetts. 

fHannay, in his work on Acadia, says : "French writers say the Aca- 
dians were expelled because the greedy English colonists looked upon 
their fair farms with covetous eyes, and that the government was influ- 
enced by these persons. A more flagrant untruth never was told. The 
anxiety of the government that the Acadians should remain on their lands 
and become good subjects was extreme. To effect these objects the gov- 
ernment consented to humiliations and concessions which only increased 
the arrogance of the Acadians. Even after the fall of Beausejour they 
d light have remained on their lands without molestation, if they had but 
consented to take an unconditional Oath of Allegiance to. the British 
Crown," 



184 £CADT£ 

Loutre; — we append the following additional testimony 
from do less an authority than the Bishop of Quebec. Thai? 
high church dignitary wrote La Loutre the following caus- 
tic letter t 



u You hare at last, my dear sir, got into the very trouble 
which I foresaw, and which I predicted not long ago. The 
refugees could not fail to get into trouble sooner or !a l er r 
and to charge you with being the cause of their misfortunes. 
It will be the same with those of the Island of St. John 
whenever the war breaks out. They will be exposed to the 
English, ravaged without ceasing,, and will throw the blame 
upon you. The court thought it necessary to facilitate their 
departure from their lands, but that is not the concern of 
our profession. It was my opinion that we should neither 
say anything against the course pursued, nor anything to 
induce it, I reminded you,- a long time ago r that a priest 
ought not to meddle with temporal affairs,, and that if he 
did so, he would always create enemies,, and cause his peo- 
ple to be discontented 

" I am now persuaded that the General and all France 
will not approve of the return of the refugees to their lands. 
. . . But is it right for you to refuse the sacraments, to 
threaten that they shall be deprived of the services of a 
priest, and that the savages shall treat them as enemies? 
I wish them conscientiously to abandon the lands they pos- 
sessed under English rule ; but is it well proved that they 
cannot conscientiously return to them, seelusa pevversionis 
peridot 

"On the northern bank of the Misseguash, less than a 
mile from the river, which now forms the boundary of two 
Provinces, the Intercolonial Railway winds around a remark- 
able hill, which rising suddenly from the lnaish, runs back 
in a high narrow ridge towards the northeast. The traveler, 
as he gazes listlessly at the landscape,, suddenly has his at- 
tention fixed by the sight of a ruined magazine, and the ram- 
parts and embrasures of an ancient fortress, and turns to 
his guide bock 'to discover what this may be. These wast- 



PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 18S 

ing battlements, which now seem so much out of p'ace in 
the midst of a quiet pastoral scene, have a sadder history 
than almost any other piece of ground in Acadia, for they 
represent the last effort of France to hold on to a portion 
of that Province, which was once all her own, which she 
seemed to value so little when its possession was secure, yet 
which she fought so hard to save. This ruin is all that 
remains of the once potent and dreaded Beausejour." * 

In addition thereto, the French had a small fort at Bay 
Verte, on the Gulf side of the isthmus, called Fort Gaspe- 
reau, which they used as a depot for supplies coming to 
Beausejour from Louisbourg and Quebec. At Pont a Buot, 
between Forts Gaspereau and Beausejour, they built a block- 
house, in which was a garrison of thirty men ; and there were 
guards at Shepod} T , and other points on the north shore of 
the Bay of Fundy, thus making a complete chain of fortifi- 
cations from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Biver St. 
John, where was a detachment of eighty men. Beausejour 
could thus be reinforced either by way of St. John or the 
Gulf, without the English in xicadia having any knowledge 
of it. Here La Loutre established his headquarters; and 
it was here that he committed another deed which added to 
the odium with which he was regarded. 

The soldiers of Beausejour and Lawrence, the two hos- 
tile forts on either side of the Misseguash, were accustomed 
to meet between the two with flags of truce, when one de- 
sired to communicate with the other. La Loutre dressed 
an Indian in French uniform, and sent him with a white flag 
in the direction of Fort Lawrence. The flag was noticed, 
and Captain How went out to meet it. When he had near- 
ly reached the pretended French officer, a party of Indians 
who had been lying in ambush fired a volley directly at 
How, killing him instantly. Cornwallis characterized this 

•Hannay. 



y 



186 ACADIA 

as "an instance of treachery and barbarity not paralleled 
in history." 

Daring this time the English were excessively annoyed 
by the attacks of the Indians of the Peninsula, who fell up- 
on the inhabitants in the night, or surprised small parties 
of the settlers who had ventured too far from the forts. — ■ 
This checked the settlement of the country by making it 
impossible for the settler to strike out into the wilderness 
and make a home for himself. As it was generally believed 
the savages were prompted by French emissaries, the court 
of Fiance was apprised of the condition of affairs. That 
p"-wer, not yet being in a position for open rupture, prom- 
ised to send positive orders to the Governor of Canada, to 
prevent all causes of complaint for the future, — a promise, 
which, if the French court f ulnlled, was not as fully obeyed. 
At the same time, supplies of men and military stores were 
being sent to Louisbourg, and to Quebec, until both places 
became a source of alarm to the English. 

One of the early laws of the Halifax Government was to 
the effect that no debts contracted in England, or in any of 
the colonies, prior to the settlement of Halifax, or to the 
arrival of the debtor, should be recoverable in any court of 
judicature in the Province. The design was to attract emi- 
grants ; it may be supposed that the dishonest sought 
this asylum for insolvent debtors as well as the unfor- 
tunate. That the grade of public morality was none of the 
highest, is shown by a very extraordinary order of Govern- 
or Cornwallis, which, after reciting that the dead were fol- 
lowed to the grave by neither relatives, friends, nor neigh- 
bors, and that it was difficult to procure the assistance even 
of " carriers," directed the Justices of the Peace, upon the 
death of a settler, to summon twelve persons from the vi- 
cinity of the last place of abode of deceased, to attend the 
funeral and carry his corpse to the grave ; and as a penalty 
for not complying with the orders, directions were given t<> 



PRELIMINARY TO EXPULSION 187 

strike out the name of any delinquent from the mess books 
of the place, and to withdraw from him the allowance and 
support of the Government. 

The year 1755 was memorable in events on the American 
Continent. No less than four grand expeditions were plan- 
ned against the French by Great Britain and her Colonists 
in America. The march of General Braddock on Fort Du 
Quesne, and its sanguinary defeat, is familiar in its details 
to every school-boy. A second was organized to proceed 
against Fort Niagara, composed of Colonial Regulars and 
Indians, but which got no farther than Oswego, owing to a 
delay in starting : the attempt against Niagara went no far- 
ther that year. A third expedition against Crown Point by 
the Provincials inflicted a bloody defeat on the French un- 
ler Dieskau, but failed to attain the object for which it was 
placed in the field. But the fourth, the expedition against 
Acadia, succeeded only too well. This incursion, aided and 
abetted, and paid for by England, consummated by New 
England troops, under a Massachusetts commander bred 
in a Puritan atmosphere, in the name of religion, was con- 
ducted in so heartless a manner, that as though by common 
consent, the reports of details have been purposely destroyed, 
&nd historians have passed over it with only an allusion, as 
if unable to record the shame of the transaction. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS. 



We open the chapter by allowing this simple people to tell 
the stoiy of their suffering and wrongs in the following me- 
morial to Governor Lawrence, under date of June 10th, 
1755, previous to the fall of Beausejour, and other French 
reverses on the Peninsula. We mention this, as otherwise 
it might be said they were disheartened, and came to sue 
for peace only after having lost all hope. We ask the can- 
did reader to peruse the document carefully, aid to judge 
for himself whether the strictures put upon it by the Gov- 
ernor and Council are just, or otherwise. 

"We, the inhabitants of Minas, Piziquid, and the River 
Canard, take the liberty of approaching your Excellency for 
the purpose of testifying our sense of the care which the 
Government exercises over us. It appears, Sir, that your 
ExceLency doubts the sincerity with which we have prom- 
ised to be faithful to his Britannic Majesty. 

" We most humbly beg your Excellency to consider our 
past conduct. You will see, that, very far from violating 
the oath we have taken, we have maintained it in its entire- 
ty, in spite of the solicitations and the dreadful threats of 
another power. We still entertain, Sir, the same pure and* 
sincere disposition to prove, under any circumstances, our 
unshaken hdelity to his Majesty, provided that his Majesty 
shall allow us the same liberty that he has granted us. — 
We earnestly beg your Excellency to have the goodness to 
inform us of his Majesty's intentions on this subject, and 
to give us assurances on his part. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 189 

u Permit us, if you please, Sir, to make known the annoy- 
ing circumstances in which we are placed, to the prejudice 
of the tranquillity we ought to enjoy. Under pretext that 
we are transporting our corn and provisions to Beausejour 
and the River St. John, we are no longer permitted to car- 
ry the least quantity of corn by water from one place to an- 
other. We beg your Excellency to be assured that we nev- 
er transported provisions to Beausejoar, or to the River St. 
John. If some refugee inhabitants at this point have been 
seized, with cattle, we are not on that account, by any means 
guilty, inasmuch as the eatt'e belonged to them as private 
individuals, and they were chiving them to their respective 
habitations. As to ourselves, Sir, we have never offended in 
that respect; consequently we ought not, in our opinion, to 
be yunished; on the contrary, we hope that your Excellency 
will be pleased to restore to us the same liberty that we en- 
joyed formerly, in giving us the use of our canoes, either to 
transport our provisions from one river to the other, or for 
the purpose of fishing; thereby providing for our livelihood. 
This permission has never been taken from us except at the 
present time. We hope, Sir, that you will be pleased to re- 
store it, especially in consideration of the number of poor 
inhabitants who would be very glad to support their fami- 
lies with the fish that they would be able to catch. More- 
over, our guns, which we regard as our own personal prop- 
erty, have been taken from us, notwithstanding the fact they 
are absolutely necessary to us, either to defend our cattle 
which are attacked by wild beasts, or for the protection of 
our children, or of ourselves. Any inhabitant w T ho may 
have his oxen in the woods, and who may need them for 
pui poses of labor would not dare to expose himself in go- 
ing tor them without being prepared to defend himself. 

"It is certain. Sir, that since the savages have ceased fre- 
quenting our parts, the wild beasts have greatly increased, 
and that our cattle are devoured by them almost every day. 
Besides, the arms which have been taken from us are but a 
fet-b.e guarantee of our fidelity. It is not the gun which an 
inhabitant possesses that will induce him to revolt, nor the 
piivaiion of the same gun that will make him more faithful; 
but his conscience alone must induce him to maintain his 
oath. An order has appeared in your Excellency's name, 
given at iTort Edward, June 4th, 1755, n the 28th year of 



190 MCKDIJb 

bis Majesty's reign, by which we are commanded to cany 
guns, pistols, &c. to Fort Edward. It appears to us, Shy 
that it would be dangerous for us to execute that order, be- 
fore representing to you the danger to which this order ex- 
poses us. The savages may come and threaten and plunder 
us, reproaching us for having furnished arms to* kill thein.- 
"We hope, Sir, that you will be pleased, on the contrary, to 
order that those taken from us be restored to 1 us. By so 
doing, you will afford us the means of preserving both our- 
selves and our cattle. 

" In the last place, we are grieved* Sir y at seeing ourselves 
declared guilty without being aware that we have disobeyed. 
One of our inhabitants of the River Canard, named Pierre 
Melaneon, was seized and arrested in charge of his boat, 
before having heard any order forbidding that sort of trans- 
port. We beg your Excellency, on this subject, to have the* 
goodness to make known to us your good pleasure before 
confiscating our property and considering us in fault. This- 
is the favor we expect from your Excellency's kindness, and 
we hope that you wLl do us the justice to believe that very 
far from violating our promises, we will maintain them, as- 
suring you that we are are very respectfully, &c. 

[Signed by twenty-five of said Inhabitants.] 

Also a second memorial, dated June 24th, containing the 
following: "All the inhabitants of Minas, Piziquid and the 
River Canard, beg your Excellency to believe that if, in the 
petition which they have had the honor to present to your 
Excellency, there shall be found any error or want of neglect 
towards the government, it is entirely contrary to their in- 
tention; and that in this case the inhabitants who have 
signed it, are not more guilty than the others." 

The Council voted unanimously "That the memorial of 
the 10th of June is highly arrogant and insidious, an insult 
upon his Majesty's authority, and government, and deserved 
the highest resentment, and that if the Memorialists had not 
submitted themselves by their subsequent memorial, they 
ought to have been severely punished for their presump- 
tion." 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 191 

■"The Lieutenant-Governor at the same time acquainted 
the Council that Captain Murray had informed him that for 
some time before the delivery of the first of the said memo- 
rials, the French had behaved with greater submission and 
obedience to the orders of government than usual and had 
already delivered to him a considerable number of their fire- 
arms; but that at the delivery of the said memorial they 
treated him with great indecency and insolence, which gave 
him strong suspicions that they had obtained some intelli- 
gence which we were then ignorant of, and which the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor conceived might most probably be a report 
that had about that time been spread amongst them of a 
French fleet being then in the Bay of Fundy, it being very 
notorious that the said French inhabitants have always dis- 
coveied an insolent and inimical disposition towards his 
Majesty's government when they have had the least hope 
of assistance from France." 

What the precise character of this " great indecency and 
insolence" of behavior was which the delegates showed 
towards Captain Murray, we are not informed. As the same 
charge is made against them by the Council, of their memorial 
of the 10ch of June, (it may be with equal justice,) we will 
lay before the reader the reasons the Council gave for such 
accusation- It appears the signers of the document had 
been ordered to Halifax, fifteen of whom responded ; they 
were brought in before the Council, the memorial read to 
them, when "they were severely reprimanded for their au- 
dacity in subscribing and presenting so impertinent a pa- 
per." We have the document now before us, and can our- 
selves judge of the truthfulness of their charge. If in this 
instance we do not find the accusation fully sustained by 
the facts, we may infer that the charges against the Neu- 
trals in other respects are equally unfounded on fact. How- 
ever we will let the council proceed with its. own justifica- 
tion. "In order to show them [the Neutrals] the falsi- 



192 ACADIA 

ty as well as impudence of their memorial,' 7 it was ordered 
to be read by paragraph, remarks being made by the Lieu- 
tenant- Governor. It was observed in answer to this para- 
graph of their memorial of the 10th of June — 

" That they were affected with the proceedings of the Gov* 
ernment toward them,' T 

that they had been always treated with the greatest len- 
ity, had enjoyed more privileges than the English subjects^ 
had been indulged in the free exercise of their religion with 
full liberty to consult their priests,, had been protected in 
their trade and fishery, and had been for many years per- 
mitted to possess their lands (part of the best in the Prov- 
ince) although they had not yet complied with the terms on 
which the lands were granted, by taking the Oath of Alle- 
giance to the Crown. They were then asked whether they 
could produce an instance that any privilege was denied to 
them, or that any hardships were ever imposed upon them 
by the Government. " They acknowledged the justice and 
lenity of the Government.' 7 * 

" They desire that their past conduct might be considered.' 7 

It was remarked to them "that their past conduct was 
considered, and that the government were sorry to say their 
conduct had been undutiful and very ungrateful for the len- 
ity shown to them. That they had no returns of loyalty to 
the Crown, or respect to his Majesty's government in the 
Province. That they had discovered a constant dis]Dosition 
to assist his Majesty's enemies, and to distress his subjects. 
That they had not only furnished the enemy with provi- 



* That the French deputies were actuated by fear in making this re- 
ply is quite evident. The memorial was brought for the expressed pur- 
pose of complaining of instances " where privileges were denied them." 



EXPULSION OP THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 193 

sions and ammunition, but had refused to supply the inhab- 
itants, or government, with provisions, and when they did 
supply, they have exacted three times the price for which 
they were sold at other markets. That they had been idle 
and indolent on their lands, had neglected husbandry, and 
the cultivation of the soil, and had been of no use to the 
Province either in Husbandry, trade or fishery, but had 
been rather an obstruction to the King's intentions in the 
settlement." They were then asked whether they could 
mention a single instance of service to the government, "to 
which they were incapable of making any reply." 
Upon reading this paragraph, — 

"It seems that your Excellency is doubtful of the sincerity 
of those who have promised fidelity, that they had been 
so far from breaking their oatn, that they had kept it in 
spite of terrifying menaces from another power," 

they were asked "What gave them occasion to suppose 
that the government was doubtful of their sincerity?"* and 
were told that "it argued a consciousness in them of insin- 
cerity and want of attachment to the interests of his Majes- 
ty and his government. That as to their taking arms, they 
[the French] had often argued that the Indians would an- 
noy them if they did not assist them, and that by taking 
their arms by act of Government, it was put out of the pow- 
er of the Indians to threaten or force them to their assist- 
ance. That they had assisted the King's enemies, and ap- 
pealed too ready to join with another power f contrary to 



' As if the taking away of their arms, and depriving them of their ca- 
noes was not a sufficient reason. 

t At the time of the French occupation of Minas in 1744, the inhabit- 
ants of that place mem oiiahzed a Captain of infantry m -.ex I>u Vivier 
to this effect : "We live under a mild and tranquil gowrumeu. and we 
Lave all good reason to be faithful to it We hope, therefore, that you 

iu 



194 ACADIA 

the allegiance they were bound by their oath to his Majesty." 
In answer to this paragraph, — 

"We are now in the same disposition, the purest and sin- 
cerest, to prove in every circumstance, fidelity to his 
Majesty, in the same manner that we have done, provid- 
ed that his Majesty will leave us the same liberties which 
he has granted us." 

they were told that "it was hoped they would hereafter give 
proofs of more sincere and pure dispositions of mind, in the 
practice of fidelity to his Majesty, and that they would for- 
bear to act in the manner they have done, in obstructing the 
settlement of the Province, by assisting the Indians and 
French to the distress and annoyance of many of his Maj- 
esty's subjects, and to the loss of the lives of several of the 
English inhabitants. That it was not the language of Brit- 
ish subjects to talk of terms with the Crown, to capitulate 
about their fidelity and allegiance, and that it was insolent 
to insert a proviso, that they would prove their fidelity, 
provided that his Majesty would give them liberties. All 
his Majesty's subjects are protected in the enjoyment of ev- 
ery liberty while they continue loyal and faithful to the 
Crown ; and when they become false and disloyal they for- 
feit that protection." 

They were told iii answer to the paragraph where 

" They desire their cauoes for carrying their provisions from 
one river to another, and for their fishery," 



will have the goodness not to separate us from it. " Governor Mascarene 
acknowledged to Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, that the safety of 
Annapolis during Du Vivier's attempt at the reduction of that place in 
1744, was in great measure owing to the "French inhabitants refusing to 
take up arms against us." These assertions do not accord well with the 
declaration of Governor Lawrence. This, too, was during the time of a 
French invasion of the territory, a circumstance which would be likely to 
fan into flame the least spark of a spirit of insurrection, had such been 
found in the hearts of the French jSeutrais. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 195 

that "they wanted their canoes for carrying provisions to 
the enemy, and not for their own use in the fishery ; that, 
by a law of this Province, all persons are restrained from 
canying provisions from one port to another, and every ves- 
sel, canoe or bark found with provisions is forfeited, and a 
penalty is inflicted on the owners." 
They were told in answer to the following paragraph. 

" They petition for their guns as part of their goods, that 
they may be restored to defend their cattle from wild 
beasts, and to preserve themselves and their children, 
that since the Indians have quitted their quarters, the 
wild beasts are greatly increased, 1 ' 

that " guns are no part of their goods, as they have no right 
to keep arms, and they are subject to penalties if arms are 
found in their houses. That upon the order from Captain 
Murray, many of the inhabitants voluntarily brought in their 
arms, and none of them pretended that they wanted them 
for the defense of their cattle against the wild beasts, and 
that the wild beasts had not increased since their arms were 
surrendered. That they had some secret inducement, at 
that time, for presuming to demand their arms as a part of 
their goods and their right, and that they had flattered 
themselves of being supported in their insolence to the Gov- 
ernment, on a report that some French ships of war were 
in the Bay of Fundy. That this daring attempt plainly dis- 
covered the falsehoods of their professions of fidelity to the 
King, and their readiness has been visible upon every inti- 
mation of force or assistance from France, to insult his Maj- 
esty's Government, and to join with his enemies, contrary 
to their oath of fidelity." 

Upon reading this paragraph, — 

"Besides, the arms we carry are a feeble surety of our fidel- 
ity. It is not the gun that an inhabitant possesses winch 
will lead him to revolt, nor the depriving mm of tnat 



196 ACADIA 

gun that will make hirn more faithfu., but his conscience 
alone ought to engage him to maintain his oath," 

they were asked, "What excuse they could make for their 
presumption in this paragraph, and treating the govern- 
ment with such indignity and contempt as to expound to 
them the nature of fidelity, and to prescribe what would 
be the security proper to be relied on by the government 
for their sincerity 1 " The deputies were then informed they 
had a fair opportunity to manifest the reality of their obe- 
dience by immediately subscribing to the Oath of Allegi- 
ance. They answered " they bad not come prepared to an- 
swer the Council on that head." The Council replied that 
the same thing had often been proposed to them during the 
six years past, that they knew the sentiment of the inhabit- 
ants, and had determined this point with regard to them- 
selves before now. The deputies asked that they might go 
and consult with the people as they desired to act with the 
rest, and were told they "would not be permitted to return 
for any such purpose, but that it was expected from them 
to declare on the spot." Permission was given them to de- 
lay an answer until the following morning. In the mean- 
time the "Council after consideration were of opinion that 
directions should be given to Captain Murray to order the 
French inhabitants forthwith to choose and send to Halifax, 
new deputies with the general resolution of the said inhab- 
itants in regard to taking the oath, and that none of them 
should for the future be admitted to take it after having 
once refused to do so, but that effectual measures ought to 
be taken to remove such Recusants out of the Province." 

"The deputies were then called in again, and having been 
informed of this Resolution, offered to take the oath, but 
were informed that as there was no reason to hope their 
compliance proceeded from an honest frame of mind, and 
could be esteemed only the effect of compulsion and io±ce t 
and is contrary to an Act of Parliament vviiereby persons, 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 197 

who have refused to take the oaths cannot afterwards be 
permitted to take them, but are considered as Popish Recu- 
sants; therefore they would not now be indulged with such 
permission. And they were thereupon ordered into confine- 
ment." 

It does not appear that the men thus summarily impris- 
oned were proven guilty of "assisting the King's enemies," 
or "refusing to supply the government with provisions," 
nor even that they were individually charged with, the of- 
fence ; neither did the Council make any but a genera" accu- 
sation of a "constant disposition to distress" the English 
subjects, and " obstruct the intentions of the King," with- 
out deigning to support the charge with a single instance 
circumstantially proven, or even asserted. 

We quote from Hannay on this topic: "The presence, 
north of the Misseguash, of fourteen hundred inhabitants, 
rendered desperate by their misfortunes, and led by a French 
regular officer, and reinforced by a large band of Indians, 
afforded ground for the most serious alarm. The inhabit- 
ants of the settlements at Minas and Annapolis were known 
to be in active sympathy and correspondence with these 
* Deserted French Inhabitants, 1 as they were termed. With 
consummate hypocrasy these 'deserted' Frenchmen, who 
had claimed and professed to be neutrals, got themselves 
enrolled for the defense of Beausejour, under threatening 
orders which they themselves invited. With equal hypoc- 
rasy, the French of Minas and xlnnapolis approached the 
English Governor with honeyed words, while they were 
plotting in secret with the enemies of English power.* — 
With so many concealed enemies in the heart of the Prov- 



\ 



*The same writer elsewhere says, the action of the Deserted French 
was due to the influence of La Loutre ; and the question might be asked, 
where is his authority in regard to their "consummate hypocrasy" in 
themselves inviting threatening orders ; or that the other inhabitants 
were "plotting in secret with the enemies of English power." 



1$$ &C&VW 

inee, and so large a number of open enemies on its borders^ 
the position of the English colonists was far from secure. 
And surely they deserved some consideration at the hands 
of their own government, and some measure of protection 
against those who sought to destroy them. ,r 

Haliburton, who might be expected to favor the British 
side of the question, says "the orders against the French 
population directing the surrender of their arms and the giv- 
ing up of their boats were complied with in a manner whi-h 
might certainly have convinced the government that they 
bad no serious intention of an insurrection.'* He attrib- 
utes the sanguinary action of the government to religious 
prejudices, and to the hatred with which the Eng-lish at that 
time regarded ail Frenchmen. He further sa3 T s the action 
of the government was not always such as would conci.iate 
affection, and cited as an instance when Captain Munay in- 
formed the people at Piziquid that if they did not furnish 
bis detachments with fuel their houses would be used for 
that purpose ; or if they failed to furnish timber for the re- 
pairs of Fort Edward, they should certainly suffer military 
execution. 

As has already been stated, the entire line of forts and 
the northern border of Nova Scotia had fallen into the 1 mnds 
of the English, some of them having garrisons left in them 
to prevent communication between the French of Canada 
and Acadia. The French refugees at Chignecto had been 
disarmed; the Priest La Loutre had fled to Canada, and 
gave no further trouble : Vergor and other leaders were pris- 
oners of war; the Indians had mostly left the Province, and 
the Neutrals about IVIinas and Annapolis had delivered up 
their arms, and appeared as peaceably inclined as at any 
time during their forty years sojourn under British rule; 
the English colonists were daily becoming stronger in num- 
bers, and in short, every indication about the Peninsula was 
favorable to the government. Under these circumstances 



EXPULSION OF THE PBENCH NEUTRALS 1&) 

it is hard to explain, in the light of the present century, the 
extreme measures decided on by the Governor and Council, 
assisted by Admirals Boscawen and Mostyn, convened at 
Halifax, July 15th, 1755 — no less a measure than the eviction 
of the whole French population of Acadia, and their disper- 
sion among aliens in a strange land. 

By the end <of July, answer had been received from ail the 
French settlements, to the effect that they would take no 
new oath.; and "as it had been determined before to send 
all the French inhabitants out of the Province if they re- 
fused to take the oatk, nothing now remained to be consid- 
ered but what measures were necessary to send them away, 
and where they should be sent. After mature consideia- 
tiou, it was unanimously agreed that, to prevent as much 
as possible their attempting to return and molest the set- 
tlers that may be set down on their lands, it would be most 
proper to send them to be distributed among the several 
colonies on the Continent, and that a sufficient number of 
vessels should be hired with all possible expedition for that 
purpose." 

. Governor Lawrence's instructions to the various military 
forces designed to carry the resolutions of the government 
into execution, were, to keep the measures as secret as pos- 
sible, "as well to prevent their attempting to escape to car- 
ry off their catt-e;'' and the better to effect this, "you will 
endeavor to fall upon some stratagem to get the men, both 
old and young (especially the heads of families) into your 
power and detain them until the transports shall arrive, so 
that they may be ready to be shipped off ; for when this is 
done, it is not much to be feared that the women and chil- 
dren will attempt to go away and carry off the cattle. But, 
lest they should, it will not only be proper to secure all the 
boats and vessels you can lay your hands upon, but also to 
send oit :j Arties to ail suspected roads and places from time 
tu time, so they may thereby be intercepted." He also or- 



v 



200 ACADIA 

ders that the inhabitants will not " be allowed to cany away 
the least thing but their ready money and household furni>- 
ture." 

And again: "As there may be a deal of difficulty in se- 
curing them, you will, to prevent this as much as possible, 
destroy all the villages on the north and northwest side of 
the isthmus, that lie at any distance from the Fort of Beau- 
sejour, and use every other method to distress,, as much as 
can be, those who may attempt to conceal themselves in the 

woods I would have you give particular orders 

for entirely destroying and demolishing the villages of Je- 
diacke, Ramsach, &c, and everything they find about these 
quarters, from which any sort of support or assistance may 
be had by an enemy." 

To gratify a laudable curiosity that is likely to arise re- 
specting the social condition of this people on whose head© 
a calamity, unparalleled in history, is about to fall, and 
against whom such direful schemes are being concocted, we 
will draw at some length from the historian Haliburton^ 
who not only was a resident of the territory, but who had 
known and conversed with eye-witnesses of the sad event. 

'•Hunting and fishing, which had formerly been the de'ighfc 
of the colony, and might have still supplied it with subsist- 
ence, had no attraction for a simple and quiet people, and 
gave way to agriculture, which had been established in the 
marshes and low lands, by repelling with dikes the sea and 
rivers which had covered these plains. These grounds 
yielded fifty to one, at first, and afterward fifteen or twen- 
ty for one, at least; wheat and oats succeeded best in them, 
but they likewise produced rye, barley, and maize. There 
were also potatoes in great plenty, the use of which was be- 
come common, at the same time these immense meadows 
were covered with flocks. They computed as many as six- 
ty thousand head of horned cattle : and most families had 
several horses, though the tillage was carried on by oxen. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 2">1 

Their habitations, which were of wood, were extremely con- 
venient, and furnished as neatly as substantial farmers hous- 
es in Europe. They reared a great deal of poultry of all 
binds, which made a variety in their food, at once who]e- 
some and plentiful. Their ordinary drink was beer and ci- 
der, to which they sometimes added rum. Their usual 
clothing was in general the produce of their own flax, or of 
the fleeces of their own shesp ; with these they made com- 
mon linens and coarse cloths. If any of them had any de- 
sire for articles of greater luxury, they procured them from 
Annapolis or Louisbourg, and gave in exchange, corn, cat- 
tle, or furs. The Neutral French had nothing else to give 
their neighbors, and made still fewer exchanges among 
themselves; because each separate family was able, and had 
been accustomed, to provide for its own wants. They there- 
fore knew nothing of paper currency, which was so com- 
mon throughout the rest of North America. Even the small 
quantity of gold and silver which had baen introduced into 
the Colony, did not inspire that activity in which its chief 
value consists. Their manners were of course extremely 
simple. There was seldom a cause, either civil or criminal, 
of importance enough to be carried before the Court of Ju- 
dicature, established at Annapolis. Whatever little differ- 
ences arose from time to time among them were amicably 
adjusted by their elders. All their public acts were drawn 
by their pastors, who had likewise the keeping of their 
wills ; for which, and their religious services, the inhabit- 
ants paid a twenty-seventh part of their harvest, which was 
always sufficient to afford more means than there were ob- 
jects of generosity. 

" Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence an- 
ticipated the demands of poverty. Every misfortune was 
relieved, as it were, before it could be felt, without ostenta- 
tion on the one hand, and without meanness on the other. 
It was, in short, a society of brethren ; every individual of 



202 ACADIA 

which was equally ready to give, and to receive, what he 
thought the common right of mankind. So perfect a har- 
mony naturally prevented all those connections of gallantry 
which are so often fatal to the peace of families. An ille- 
gitimate child was almost unknown in the settlements. — 
This evil was prevented by early marriages, for no one 
passed his youth in a state of celibacy. As soon as a young 
man arrived at a proper age, the community built him a 
house, broke up the lands about it, and supplied him with 
all the necessaries of life for a twelve-month. There he re- 
ceived the partner whom he had chosen, who brought him 
her portion in flocks. This new family grew and prospered 
like the others. In 1755, all together made a population of 
eighteen thousand souls." 

"Tradition is fresh and positive in the various parts of 
the United States where they were afterwards located, re- 
specting their guileless, peaceable and scrupulous charac- 
ter; and the descendants of those, whose long-cherished and 
eudearing local attachment induced them to return to the 
land of their nativity, still deserve the name of a mild, fru- 
gal, and pious people." 

The execution of this unusual and general sentence, says 
Haliburton, was allotted chiefly to the Xew England forces. 
The Acadians were kept entirely ignorant of their destiny, 
agreeably to instructions from Governor Lawrence, until 
the moment of their captivity, and were overawed, or al- 
lured, to labor at the gathering in of their harvest, which 
was secretly allotted to the use of their conquerors. 

The orders from Lawrence to Captain Murray, who was 
first on the station, directed that if these people behaved 
amiss, they should be punished at his discretion; and if any 
attempts were made to molest the troops, he should take 
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; and, in short, 
life for life, from the nearest neighbor where the mischief 
should be performed. To hunt these people into captivity 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 203 

was a measure as impracticable as cruel ; and as it was not 
to be supposed they would voluntarily surrender themselves 
as prisoners, their subjugation became a matter of great dif- 
ficulty. At a consultation held between Colonel Winslow 
and Captain Murray, it was agreed that a proclamation 
shoal d be issued at the different settlements, requiring the 
attendance of the people, at the respective posts on the 
same day ; which proclamation should be so ambiguous in 
its nature, that the object for which they were to assemble 
could not be discovered ; and so peremptory in its terms, 
as to insure implicit obedience. That which was addressed 
to the people in the limits now comprised in King's Coun- 
ty, was as follows : 

" To the inhabitants of the District of Grand Pre, Minas, 
River Canard, &c, as well ancient, as young men and lads: 

Whereas his Excellency, the Governor, has instructed us 
of his late resolution respecting the matter proposed to the 
inhabitants, and has ordered us to communicate the same in 
person, his Excellency, being desirous that each of them 
should be satisfied of his Majesty's intentions, which he 
has also ordered us to communicate to you, such as they 
have been given to him : We therefore order and strictly 
enjoin by these presents, all of the inhabitants, as well of 
the above named District as of all the other Districts, both 
o.d and young men, as well as all the lads of ten years of 
age, to attend at the Church of Grand Pre, on Friday, the 
5th instant, at three of the clock in the afternoon, that we 
may impart to them what we are ordered to communicate 
to them; declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any 
pretense whatever, on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels, 
in default of real estate. Given at Grand Pre, 2d Septem- 
ber, 1755, and 29th year of his Majesty's reign. 

"John Winslow." 

While the three days are passing before the memorable 
5th arrives — a term but too short for the unsuspecting Aca- 
dians — let us glance at the correspondence of the com- 



ZU4 ACADIA 

manders of the several districts who are engaged in this 
work of capturing a whole people, and see what motives 
prompt, and what thoughts inspire them. 

Grand Pre, 30th August, 1755. 

To Governor Lawrence : 

I am favored with your Excellency's letters, which Cap- 
tain Murray was so good a?, to be the bearer of, and with 
whom I have consulted as to the duty proposed ; and as the 
corn is now all down, the weather being such, has preven- 
ted the inhabitants from housing it, it is his opinion and 
mine, that your Excellency's orders should not be made pub- 
lic until Friday; and which day we propose to put them in 
execution. We had picquetted in the camp before the re- 
ceipt of your Excellency's letter, and I imagine it is so far 
from giving surprise to the inhabitants, as to their being de- 
tained, that they look upon it as a settled point, that we are 
to remain with them all winter ; and as this duty is of no ex- 
pense to Government, I cannot but flatter nryself your Ex- 
cellency will approve of the matter, as fifty men to remain 
will be better in present circumstances, than one hundred 
without tins protection, and the other part of the troops 
put on duty abroad. . . . Although it is a disagreeable 
part of the duty we are put upon, I am sensible it is a nec- 
essary one, and shall endeavor strictly to obey your Excel- 
lency's orders, to do anything in me to remove the neigh- 
bors about me to a better country; as to poor Father ±je 
Bianc, I shall, with your Excellency's permission, send him 
to my own place. I am, &c, 

John Winslow. 

23d August. 
This morning Capt. Adams and party returned from their 
march to the River Canard, and reported it was a line coun- 
try and full of inhabitants, a beautiful church, abundance 
of the good of this wond, and provisions of all kinds in 
great plenty. Capt. Kolby ordered with five officers and 
fifty privates to visit the vidage Moianson on the Kiver Gas- 
pereau, and Capt. Osgood, with the nke number of officers 
and men, to reconnoitre the country in the front, or to the 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 205 

southward of our encampment, both of which parties re- 
turned in the evening, and gave each account that it was a 
tfiue country. 

John Winslow, 
Lieut, Col. Commanding. 

This u fine country, with its beautiful church, and abund- 
ance of the good of this world," was, in less than a fortnight, 
to be laid waste by fire and pillage, and depopulated, by or- 
der of Winslow. 

Fort Cumberland, 24th August, 1755. 

Dear Sir: — I embrace this opportunity with pleasure, to 
let you know that these leave me and all friends, as I hope 
they will iind you in good health, and we rejoice to hear of 
your safe arrival at Minas, and am well pleased that you are 
provided with so good quarters for yourself and soldiers, 
and as you have taken possession of the friar's house, hope 
you will execute the office of priest I am tired of your ab- 
sence, and long for nothing more than to be with you; here 
is Capt Proby and eight transports, arrived last Wednesday; 
Capt. Taggart arrived this morning, and a sloop from New 
York with provisions for the troops ; the news has not yet 
come on shore; our troops remain in good health, and long 
to follow you. Yours, &c, Prebble. 

To Col. Winslow, commanding at Minas. 

Camp at Cumberland, 5th Sept., 1755. 

Dear Sir: — I received your favor from Captain Nichols, 
of the 23d August, and rejoice to hear that the lines are fal- 
len to you in pleasant lands, and that you have a goodly 
heritage. I understand you are surrounded by the good 
things of this world, and having a sanctified place for your 
habitation, hope you will be prepared for the enjoyments of 
another; we are mouldering away our time in your absence, 
which has rendered this place to me worse than a prison ; 
we have only this to comfort us, that we are as nigh to 
heaven as you are at Minas, and since we are denied our 
good things in this world, doubt not we shall be happy in 
the next. . . . Your sincere friend, 

Jedediah Prebble. 

To Col. Winslow, commanding at Minas. 



20S acadta 

Fort Edward, 1755T. 
I was out yesterday at the villages,, all the people were 
quiet and busy at the harvest ; if this day keeps fair, all will 
be in here into their bains. I hope to-rnorrow will crown 
all our wishes, I am most truly, &c. y 

A. Murray. 

We will not burden these pages- with more of this sicken- 
ing religious cant. Such professions of piety made by men 
eugaged in the work they were in y appears to be little short 
of sacrilege. 

The reader has noted, in the above letters,, the evident 
anxiety on the part of the English for the people to com- 
plete their harvest before the day decreed for them to as- 
semble. The purpose of the commanders was T that the 
troops could the more readily plunder, and more effectually 
destroy what they could not carry away? the instructions 
of Governor Lawrence being for the country to be so com- 
pletely devastated that, should any of the French escape 
from the soldiers, they would not be able to subsist in it.* 

The ever memorable 5th of September arrived in due 
time. The " beautiful country' 7 was all aglow that morning 
as only a September sun in that clear northern atmosphere 
could render it. The work of the harvest is over — the unit- 
ed efforts of the whole populace (for women and children 
wrought in the fields in that primitive pastoral communi- 
ty) sufficing in a few days to secure the season's yield : the 
produce of a year's industry is safely gathered into over- 



* The following is among the instructions to Major Hanfield, under 
date of August 11th, 1755 : "You will use all the means proper and neces- 
sary for collecting the people together so as to get them on board. If you 
find that fair means will not do with them, you must proceed by the most 
•vigorous measures possible, not only in compelling them to embark, but- 
in depriving those who shall escape of all means of shelter or support, by 
burning their houses, and destroying everything that may afford them the 
means of subsistence in the country. " 



EXPULSION OF THE FSENCH N LUTEALS 207 

flowing barns and granaries. Little do th9 yeomanry sus- 
pect, as they gather round the ample board, that it is the 
last time they will be permitted to meet as united families. 
Yet it is apparent that something unusual is occurring : is 
it a day of some religious festival, or are the people to join 
in a public joyous celebration of the ingathering of the sea- 
son's bountiful harvest? The male members go out of hun- 
dreds of happy homes in obedience to the stern military 
order convening the inhabitants for the purpose of commu- 
nicating ""his Majesty's intentions 11 concerning them. The 
rising ground on which stands the church is soon teemiug 
with the country folk. Some come on foot, singly and in 
.groups; others, particularly the older men, are conveyed 
thither in carts: all are neatly clad in substantial home- 
spun, with countenances that betoken a peaceable and law- 
abiding population. 

The church was a large edifice, sufficient for the needs of 
that extensive parish. It was sacred to the hearts of this 
simple people ; it was the place where, at the stated gath- 
erings of the populace, the venerable Father LeBlanc was 
wont to break to them the bread of life; it was the scene 
of their christenings, the solemnization of their marriages, 
and above all, hallowed to the recollection of the last rite3 
in memory of deceased loved ones. 

Promptly at the hour (the Neutrals had felt the iron heel 
of military despotism too long not to be punctual), four 
hundred and eighteen able-bodied men were assembled at 
the church in Grand Pre. These being induced to enter 
the church, and a guard having been stationed at the door, 
Colonel Winslow placed himself, with his officers, in the 
centre, and addressed them as follows : 



Gentlemen : — I have received from his Excellency, Gov- 
ernor Lawrence, the King's commission, which I have in my 
hand; and by his orders you are convened together to man- 



20S 



&CAvm 



ifest to you, his Majesty's final resolution to the French in- 
habitants of this his Province of Nova Scotia ; who, for al- 
most half a century, have had more indulgence granted 
them than any of his subjects in any part of his dominions; 
what use you have made of it you yourselves best know. — 
The part of duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very 
disagreeable to my natural make and temper,- as I know it 
mu c i be grievous to you ? who are of the same species ; but 
it is not my business to animadvert, but to obey such orders 
as I receive, and therefore, without hesitation, shall deliver 
you his Majesty's orders and instructions,, namely — that 
your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds and live-stock 
of all sorts, are forfeited to the Crown r with all other your 
effects, saving your money and household goods r and you 
yourselves to be removed from this his Province. 

" Thus it is peremptorily his Majesty's orders,, that the 
whole French inhabitants of these Districts be removed ; 
and I am, through his Majesty's goodness, directed to al- 
low you liberty to carry off your money and household 
goods, as many as you can without discommoding the ves- 
sels you go in, I shall do everything in my power that all 
these goods be secured to you, and that you are not mo- 
lested in carrying them off;; and also that whole families- 
shall go in the same vessel,* and make this remove, which 
I am sensible must make you a great deal of trouble, as easy 
as his Majesty's service will admit ; and hope that, in what- 
ever part of the world you may fall, you may be faithful 
subjects, a peaceable and happy peopie. I must also inform 
you, that it is his Majesty s pleasure that you remain in se- 
curity under the inspection and direction of the troops I 
have the honor to command. 

And he then declared them the King's prisoners. 



* A promise which, whatever may have been the intentions- of Wins^ 
low in making it, was most shamefully and inhumanly broken. Says 
Mrs. Uilliams: " By what sophism Colonel Wmslow reoonu^ad this de* 
ception, not to say abominable falsehood, to his conscience, history does 
not say. But his friends have said for him that if he was engaged in a 
cruel undertaking, yet his honor was untarnished, and doing what he did 
at the command of his sovereign, implied no want oi humanity in him ; 
that he was an officer whose honor could not be impeached." 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 209 

The whole number of persons finally collected at Grand 
P: e, says Haliburton, amounted to four hundred and eighty- 
three men, and three hundred and thirty-seven women, heads 
of families; their sons and daughters to*the number of fiva 
•hundred and twenty-seven of the former, and five hundred 
and seventy- six of the latter ; making in all one thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-three souls. 

Their stock consisted of one thousand two hundred and 
sixty-nine oxen, one thousand five hundred and fifty-seven 
cows, five thousand and seven young cattle, four hundred 
and ninety-three horses, nearly nine thousand sheep, and 
upwards of four thousand hogs. This enumeration shows 
the thriftiness of the population, who were rich in all that 
added to worldly enjoyment. 

As some of the wretched inhabitants fled to the woods, 
all possible measures were adopted to force them back to 
captivity. The country was laid waste to prevent their 
subsistence. In the district of Minas alone, the soldiers, by 
order of Winslow, set fire to two hundred and fifty private 
dwellings, two hundred and seventy-six barns, eleven mills, 
one church, and other buildings to the number of one hun- 
dred and fifty-five; — over five hundred buildings in all, con- 
taining all the grain and household effects (not set apart for 
their captors) of the Acadians, reduced to ashes in a single 
district ! 

It was thought the people who had temporarily escaped 
capture, would return and deliver themselves into the hands 
of the English, rather than attempt to remain in a country 
where was no shelter nor provisions for sustenance. Hav- 
ing been deprived of their arms, they were at the mercy of 
the enemy, and many were reduced to such a condition of 
despair, that they surrendered themselves up. A few were 
yet hiding in the woods ; in order to force them to terms, 
Col. Winslow issued another order, surpassing in cruelty 
his former one, if possible, which was to the effect that, " if 



210 ACADIA 

within a specified time the absent ones were not delivered 
up, military execution would be immediately visited upon 
the next of kin." In short, says Haliburton, so operative 
were the terrors that surrounded them, that of twenty-four 
young men who deserted from a transport, twenty-two were 
glad to return of themselves, the others being shot by sen- 
tinels ; and one of their friends, believed to have been ac- 
cessory to their escape, was carried on shore to behold the 
destruction of his house and effects, which were burned in 
his presence, as a punishment for his temerity and his per- 
fidious aid to his comrades. 

In the execution of these orders for firing the dwellings, 
no provision was made for the sick and infirm ; the edict 
was inexorable, though the removal of the invalid from a 
dwelling should prove fatal. A number of them, more fee- 
ble than the others, did die from exposure to the night air 
and chilling winds, while waiting on shore during the delay 
attending the embarkation : their bodies were hastily buried 
in the sand by the sea. 

The prisoners confined in the church expressed the great- 
est concern at having incurred his Majesty's displeasure, 
and in a petition addressed to Colonel Winslow, entreated 
him to detain a part of them as sureties for the appearance 
of the rest who were desirous of visiting their families, and 
consoling them in their distress and misfortunes. To com- 
ply with this request of holding a few as hostages for the 
surrender of the whole body, was deemed inconsistent with 
his instructions; but permission was given them to choose 
ten for the District of Minas, and ten for Canard, to whom 
leave of absence was granted for one day; and on whose re- 
turn, another similar number was indulged in like manner. 

The unfortunate captives bore their confinement, and re- 
ceived their sentence with a fortitude and resignation alto- 
gether unexpected ; but when the hour of embarkation ar- 



f 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 211 

rived, in which they were to leave the land of their nativity 
forever, — to part with their families and friends with lit- 
tle hope of ever again meeting, and to be dispersed among 
strangers, whose language, customs and religion, were op- 
posed to their own, — then it was that the weakness of hu- 
man nature prevailed, and they were overpowered with the 
sense of their miseries. 

Before giving particulars of the embarkation, let us turn 
once more to the written evidences of this dark transaction 
left by those participating in the terrible deed. In Wins- 
low's letter book, to which source we are already indebted, 
are the following: 

" The French people not having with them any provisions, 
and many of them pleading hunger, begged for bread; on 
which I gave them, and ordered that for the future, they 
be supplied from their respective families. Thus ended the 
memorable fifth day of September, a day of great fatigue 
and trouble. 

John Winslow. 

Fort Edward, 8th Sept., 1715. 

Dear Sir: — I received your favor, and am extremely 
pleased that things are so clever at Grand Pre, and that 
the poor devils are so resigned ; here they are more patient 
tiiau I could have expected for persons so circumstanced, 
and what still surprises me, quite unconcerned. When I 
think of those at: Annapolis, I appear over though tfu of 
Summoning them in ; I am afraid there will be some diffi- 
culty n getting them together; you know our soldiers hate 
them, and if they can but find a pretext to kill them they 
will. I am really giad to think your camp is so well secur- 
ed (as the Frenca said at least a good prison for inhabitants). 
I long much to see the poor wretches embarked and our 
affairs a iittle settled, and then I will do myself the pleas- 
ure of meeting you and drinking their good voyage, &c, &c. 

Scours, &c. 

A. Murray. 

To Colonel John Winslow. 



212 ACADIA 

Fort Edward, 5th September, 1755. 

Dear Sir: — I have succeeded fine"y, and have got 183 
men into my possession. I believe there are but very few 
left, excepting their sick. I am hopeful you have had equal- 
ly as good luck, should be glad you would send me trans- 
ports as soon as possible, for you know our fort is bat small ; 
I shouid also esteem it a favour, if you could also send me 
an officer and thirty men more, as I shall be obliged to send 
to some distant rivers, where they are not ail come yet. — 
Your answer as soon as possible, will greatly oblige your 
most humble servant. 

A. Murray. 

P. S. — I have sent Father Le Blanc's son to you, to go 
with his father, as you have taken him under your protec- 
tion. At the nearest computation, it will require 360 
tons of shipping, which I think at the least computation too 
small ; therefore I believe 400 tons will be better, — since 
writing the above, two of the transports have arrived. 

A. Murray. 

To Col. Winslow, Commanding 
His Majesty's forces at Grand Pre. 

Governor Lawrence gave the following instructions relat- 
ing to their embarkation: 

"You must collect the inhabitants together, either by strat- 
agem or force, not paying the least attention to any remon- 
strance or memorial from any inhabitant whatever, who may 
be desirous of staying behind, but embark every person if 
possible, according to instructions herewith sent. The in- 
habitants and their bedding must at all events be embarked; 
and if afterwards there is room for other articles, suffer 
them to carry what they conveniently can. Upon arrival of 
the vessels, as many of the inhabitants as can be collected 
by any means, particularly the heads of families and young 
men, are to be shipped on board of them at the rate of two 
persons to a ton, tonnage of the vessels to be obtained from 
the masters. . . . You will order rive pounds of Hour and 
one pound of pork to be delivered to each j^erson so shipped, 
to last for seven days. 

"And you will make it a particular injunction to the said 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 213 

masters to be as careful and watchful as possible during 
the whole course of the passage,, to prevent the passengers 
from making any attempt to seize upon the vessel, by allow- 
ing only a small number to be upon the decks at a time and 
using all other necessary precautions to prevent the bad 
consequences of such attempts; and that they be particu- 
lar, y careful that the inhabitants have carried no arms or 
other offensive weapons on board with them. 

Of the vessels appointed to rendezvous in the Basin of 
Minas, there were "to be sent to North Carolina, such a 
number as will transport five hundred persons; to Vir- 
ginia, such a number as will transport one thousand per- 
sons, and to Maryland, such a number as will transport 
five hundred persons, or in proportion, if the number to be 
shipped off should exceed two thousand persons." 

Of the transports assembled in Annapolis Basin, there 
were ordered u to be sent to Philadelphia, such a number 
as will transport three hundred persons ; to New York suf- 
ficient to transport two hundred, to Connecticut suffie'ent 
to transport three huudrecl, and to Boston such a number 
of vessels as will transport two hundred persons, or rather 
more in proportion to Connecticut, should the number to 
be shipped off exceed one thousand persons." Governor 
Lawience estimates the number of French in the Province 
whom he proposed to forcibly remove, to be nearly seven 
thousand. 

The Acadian peasants incarcerated in the chapel, as has 
already been stated, bore their captivity with remarkable for- 
titude. Not surmising that such extreme measures were 
contemplated by the English, they had been unwarily decoyed 
and captured, without even a show of resistance.* During 
the first night of their confinement, their families remained 



*Garneau, in his " L'Historie Du Canada," says a body of soldiers, 
hitherto kept in the background, came forward and surrounded the build- 
ing as soon as the unsuspecting French entered it. 



214 ACADM 

at home in anxious solicitude at their continued absence. — 
A number of strange vessels bad been noticed in the Basin r 
and the fact added to their forebodings. At the first break 
of morning some messengers arrived^ and soon the intelli- 
gence spread to the farthest settlement. It is not possible for 
tbe pen to portray the emotions that must have arisen m 
the bosoms of these poor Acadians at such an announce- 
ment as met them on that morning. In times of distress, 
there is consolation in rendering mutual advice and assist- 
ance: in this instance the tender wives and helpless chil- 
dren were obliged to act without the advice of their natural 
protectors. 

During the few davs intervening between the memorable 
5th and the day of embarkation, events were transpiriug of 
the gravest import to the French people. Bands of soldiers 
were scouring the country in pursuit of fugitives — not hesi- 
tating forcibly to enter the dwellings of the people whenever 
a suspicion of a lurking Frenchman T or even caprice, in- 
clined them so to do. At one time the community would 
be thrown into a high state of excitement over the report 
that another of the hunted Acadians — some loved husband or 
brother — had been captured, killed, or brought in severely 
wounded ; at another time a family would be given so many 
hours in which to deliver up an absent member, under a 
threat of military execution on the nearest of kin, in case 
of failure to comply y all this conspired to spread conster- 
nation among the peasantry, every family bowing under the 
weight of its own affliction. 

Then came the order to fire the buildings. Squads of 
soldiers were detailed for the purpose, and the incendiary 
torch was conveyed to the remotest hamlet. The custom 
of the French Acadians was, as that of their descendants 
is still, to construct their houses a few rods apart along the 
same street, while their farms extend far back into the coun- 
try. Thus the farming communities were nestled in small 



EXPULSION OF THE TRENCH NEUTRALS 215 

Plages, and their social proclivities led them to spend much 
•of their time at each other's houses. The soldiers met with 
no resistance, for only women and children were there. — 
Hardly had the inhabitants a notice of their intentions ere 
the whole village was crackling with pitiless flames. The ap- 
peals for mercy v. ere received by the soldiers with derision. 
The sick and feeble were removed to the open air ; such of 
their valuables as the females, assisted by the children, could 
the more readily carry, were taken to a place of safety ; on 
«every side rose cries indicative of terror, or imploring help ; 
mothers ran frantically about in search of their children, 
■while a few stood wringing their hands in mute anguish at 
their overwhelming misfortunes. 

Night settled down over that once beautiful and popu- 
lous paiish before the horrid work was completed. The 
flames from hundreds of burning buildings soon communi- 
cated to the w T oods; the veiy heavens were aglow with a 
baleful light, and the air was thick with smoke and flying 
cinders for miles around. The domesticated animals bel- 
lowed and ran wildly about ; and it is said that the tumult 
was conveyed even to the wild beasts of the forest, so great 
was the conflagration. Can this be the work of man's 
hand? — man that was created in the image of his Maker? 
How must the hearts of men accustomed to war be steeled 
to bear unmoved such an exhibition of woe and devastation! 

The four hundred French peasants immured in the chap- 
el, could see the light of the burning dwellings reflected on 
the distant clouds; at times they could distinguish the 
roaring of the flames, and the screams of the affrighted wo- 
men and children. There were well-to-do farmers in that 
church who beheld the accumulations of a life-time perish- 
ing in the general conflagration ; fathers were there, whose 
little ones were mingling somewhere in the dreadful tumult, 
whether safe from harm, or whether in need of the strength 
cf a father's love to protect — they would have given all to 



21S ACADIA 

know. Of tidings of their fate, both on that eventful night 
and dining their subsequent life, many a heart-broken fath- 
er was forever kept in ignorance I 

But the scenes there enacted will ever remsiD r in a great 
measure, hidden from the knowledge of men.* We have no> 
written evidence that any act of cruelty was perpetrated by 
the soldiers beyond what the nature of their work demand- 
ed; tut the Trench could not, and the English would not y 
bear testimony were such the fact. When we consider the 
instructions of Governor Lawrenee to u distress- them as- 
much as possible,'" and also the hatred which the soldiers 
bore towards everything connected with Papacy, — -in short, 
where so.'diers had both license and inclination, the teach- 
ing of past history will justify a suspicion there may have- 
been more sickening scenes than history has put on record. 

There have been instances, in the annals of the past, in 
which a country has been desolated, in times of actual war, 
and where the inhabitants were found in arms, but we de- 
fy all past history to proauce a parallel case, in which an 
unarmed and peaceable people have suffered to such an ex- 
tent as did the French Neutrals of Acadia at the hands of 
the New England troops. 



* It is very remarkable, says Haliburton, that there are no traces of 
this important event, to be found among the records in the Secretary "s 
Oihce at Halifax. I could not discover, that the correspondence Lad been 
preserved, or that the orders, returns, and memorials had ever been hied 
there. In the letter-book of Governor Lawrence, which is stiL extant, 
no communication to the Hoard of Trade is entered, from the 24th De- 
cember, 1754 to the oth August, 1756, if we except a common victualling 
return. The particulars of this affair seem to have been carefully con- 
cealed, although it is not now easy to assign the reason, unless the par* 
ties were, as in truth they well might be, ashamed of the transac:ion. 1 
have, therefore, had much difficulty in ascertaining the facts. The 
marginal note in Minot's history of Massachusetts having referred to the 
Manuscript Journal of Colonel Winslow, I traced that book to the Libra* 
ry of the Mass. Hist. Society in Loston. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 217 

The 10th of September, 17^5, was the day fixed upon for 
the departure of the people at Minas. Preparations having 
been completed, the prisoners were drawn up six deep, and 
the young men, one hundred and sixty-one in number, wero 
ordered to go first on board the vessels. This they instant- 
ly and peremptorily refused to do, declaring they would not 
leave their parents; but expressed a willingness to comply 
with the order, provided they were permitted to embark 
with their families. This request was immediately rejected, 
and the troops were ordered to fix bayonets and advance 
toward the prisoners, a movement which had the effect of 
producing obedience on the part of the young men, who 
forthwith commenced their march. 

The road from the chapel to the shore, just one mile in 
length, was crowded with women and children, who, on 
their knees, greeted them as they passed with their tears 
and their blessings, while the prisoners advanced with slow 
and reluctant steps, weeping, praying, and singing hymns. 
This detachment was followed by the seniois, who passed 
through the same scene of sorrow and distress. In this 
manner was the whole ma ] e population of the District of 
Minas put on board the five transports, stationed in the 
River Gaspereau, each vessel being guarded by six non- 
commissioned officers aud eighty privates. As soon as the 
other vessels arrived, their wives and children followed, and 
the whole were placed on board. 

The haste with which these measures were carried into 
execution, continues Haliburton, from whom we draw large- 
ly, did not admit of those preparations for their comfort, 
V.hicn, if unmerited by their disloyalty, were at least due in 
pity to the severity of their punishment. "Wives were torn 
from their husbands," and mothers, while it was "too late, 
fcaw their children left on the land, extending their arms 
with wildest en.rea.if s." But the hurry, the confusion and 

excitement connected with th^ embarkation had scarcely 

n* 



218 ACADIA 

subsided, when the Provincials were appalled at the work 
of their own hands. The novelty and peculiarity of their 
situation could not but force itself upon the attention of 
even the unreflecting soldiery of Acadia: stationed in the 
midst of a beautiful and fertile country, they suddenly f :>uud 
themselves without a foe to subdue, and without a popula- 
tion to protect. The volumes of smoke which the half- 
expiring embers emitted, while they marked the site of the 
peasant's humble cottage, bore testimony to the extent of 
the work of destruction. For several successive evenings 
the cattle assembled round the smoldering ruins, as if in 
anxious expectation of the return of their masters; while all 
the night long the faithful watch-dogs of the Neutrals howled 
over the scene of desolation, and mourned alike the hand 
that had fed, and the house that had sheltered them. 

Five years after these events, some emigrants from Con- 
necticut * were persuaded by the Colonial authorities to em- 
igrate to this spot. They mention the scene of desolation 
that met their view, as defying all efforts at description. 
The ground was then whitened with the bleaching bones of 
the famished flocks and herds of the Neutrals, being actual- 
ly found in heaps in sheltered places bordering the adjacent 
woods; the blackened ruins of their habitations still disfig- 
ured the landscape on every hand ; and even portions of the 
carts that conveyed the Neutrals and their effects to the 
place of embarkation, were still moldering on the shores. 
But the most moving spectacle was some human beings who 
had been hid in the woods, and had not tasted bread for live 
years. In the famished and forlorn condition they were in, 
it was with difficulty they could be lured from their retreat ; 
but at length the friendly behavior of the new settlers pre- 
vailed against the overwhelming fear they liad of the Eng- 
lish. 

"Mis. Kate Williams. 



:m 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 219 

Governor Lawrence furnished the master of each of the 
transports containing the Neutrals, with a circular letter di- 
rected to the Governor of the colony to which the vessel, 
with its living cargo, was destined. As this letter contains 
the Governor's vindication of his act of extirpating a people, 
it is given entire. 

"The success that has attended his Majesty's arms in driv- 
ing the French from the encroachments they had made in 
this Province, furnished me with a favorable opportunity of 
reducing the French inhabitants of this colony to a proper 
obedience to his Majesty's government, or forcing them to 
emit the country. These inhabitants were permitted to re- 
main in quiet possession of their lands upon condition they 
should take the oath of allegiance to the King within one 
year after the treaty of Utrecht, by which this Province was 
ceded to Great Britain ? with this condition they have ever 
refused to comply, without having at the same time from the 
Governor an assurance in writing that they should not be 
railed upon to bear arms in defense of the Province; and 
with this General Phillips did comply, of which step his Maj- 
esty disapproved : and the inhabitants pretending therefrom 
to be in a state of Neutrality between his Majesty and his 
enemies, have continually furnished the Frencu and Indians 
with intelligence, quarters, provisions and assistance in an- 
noying the government; and while one part have abetted 
the French encroachments by their treachery, the other have 
countenanced them by open rebellion, and tnree hundred of 
them were actually found in arms in the French Fort at 
Beausejour when it surrendered.* 

" Notwithstanding all their former bad behavior, as his 
Majesty was pleased to allow me to extend still further his 
Royal grace to such as would return to their duty, I offered 
such of them as had not been openiy in arms against us, a 



T Governor Lav.'rence does not seem to name any specific instances in 
which the inhabitants were found guilty in having "abetted the French 
encroachments by their treachery," but only prefers a general charge 
against them. He also cites the finding of three hundred Neutrals in 
arms at Beausejour as a reason for expelling the whole of them from the 
territory, after the English had agreed to pardon the offense. 



220 ACADIA 

continuance of the possession of their lands, if they would 
take the oath of allegiance, unqualified, with any reservation 
whatever; bat this they have most, audaciously as well as 
unanimously refused, and if they would presume to do this 
when there is a large fleet of ships of war in the harbor, and 
a considerable land force in the Province, what might we 
not expect from them when the approaching winter deprives 
us of the former, and when the troops which are only hired 
from New England occasionally and for a small time, have 
returned home. 

•'Asbythis behavior the inhabitants have forfeited all 
title, to their lands and any further favor from the govern- 
ment, I called together his Majesty's Council, at which the 
Hon. Vice-Admiral Boscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn as- 
sisted, to consider by what means we could with the great- 
est security and effect rid ourselves of a set of people who 
would forever have been an obstruction to the intention of 
settling this colony and that it was now from their {refusal 
of the oath absolutely incumbent on us to remove. 

•'As their numbers amount to near seven thousand per- 
sons, the driving them off with leave to go whither they 
pleased would doubtless have strengthened Canada with so 
considerable a number of inhabitants, and as they have no 
cl oared land to give them at present, such as are able to 
bear arms might have been immediately employed in annoy- 
ing this and the neighboring colonies. To prevent such an 
inconvenience it was judged a necessary ana the only piac- 
ticable measure to divide them among the Colonies where 
tlu-y may be of some use, as most of them are healthy, 
strong people; and as they cannot easily collect themselves 
together again it will be out of their power to do any mis- 
chief, and they may become profitable and it is possible, in 
time, faithful subjects. 

"As this step was indispensably necessary to the securi- 
ty of this colony upon whose preservation from French en- 
croachments the prosperity of North America is esteemed 
in a great measure dependent, I have not the least reason to 
doubt of Your Excellency's concurrence, and that you will 
receive the inhabitants I now send you and dispose of them 
in such a manner as may best answer our design in prevent- 
ing their reunion. " 



EXPCXSFOS Ox Tllh FRENCH NEUTRALS 221 

Yet another indignity was offered the broken-hearted 
French. They had all along plead to be allowed the minis- 
trations of their priests — prizing that privilege as the high- 
est boon that could be granted. We find the following in a 
letter of Governor Lawrence to Board of Trade: "As the 
thiee French priests, Chevereuil, Datidin andLe Maire, were 
of no further use in this province after the removal of the 
French inhabitants, Admiral Eoscawen has been so good 
as to take them on board of his fleet and is to give them a 
passage to England," "We now leave the exiles of Grand 
P: e. stowed away in over-crowded vessels, tempest-tost and 
despairing, fanriy ties broken, bound to distant lands they 
knew not of, while we turn to the events transpiring in oth- 
er parts of Acadia, 

The English did not meet with like success at other points, 
in their scheme to take a nation captive. At Cumberland, 
the inhabitants were suspicious of something wrong, and 
fled to the woods on the approach of the troops. This did 
not prevent the burning of their dwellings ; the English lost 
twenty-nine men in an attempt to burn a papist chapel. We 
will let Speakman, the officer in command, tell his own story. 



Camp Cumberland, 5th September, 1755. 
I am sorry my first letter should be the bearer of such 
melancholy news, as the defeat of a part of a detachment 
sent out under Major Frye, who sailed from this place with 
Captain Brentnal, myself and Mr.Endicott, Dr. March and 
Lieutenant Billings, and two hundred men, to burn the 
buildings at Shepody, Prziquid and Memramcook, and after 
having burned one hundred and eighty-one bu ldings at 
Shepody, we sailed on the 3d instant. After sailing up Pet- 
itcoaiac river, and burned on both sides the river ail the 
morning, about one o'clock Colonel Frye ordered Captain 
Adams to come to anchor, and land his men opposite t-e 
niess-nouse, in order to burn a small village be.ow it, and 
join Mr. Endicott and Lieut. Billings with sixty men. Ac- 
cordingly I and Dr. Maich went on shore with a party, but 



222 ACADTA 

by reason of the difficulty of landing, was obliged t o nrarcla 
with twenty men, ten of which Dr. March took with him r 
though contrary to orders^ and went to the village in order 
to burn the mess-house. When Mr. Endicott r s party joined 
him, and before they could get the mess-house on fire, they 
were beset by above three hundred French and Indians, and 
our men r being straggling about y were soon defeated Dr, 
March and five or six privates certainly killed ? we had elev- 
en more wounded, among whom is Lieutenant Billings, who* 
is badly wounded, having received a shot through his left 
arm, and another through his body y which is looked upon 
as dangerous. I was in a small village adjoining, and had 
set fire to the houses just as I heard the attack,, and repaired 
to the marsh and joined them, but before I got there the 
most of the men had left their officers, and with difficulty 
it was we got Mr. Billings away? our powder was wet, and 
littje of it; no water and but two dajs r provisions,, obliged 
us to return without proceeding any farther, after burning: 
two hundred and fifty -three buildings with a large quantity 
of wheat and fiax. The people here are much concerned for 
fear of your party meeting tne same fate, being in the heart 
of a numerous and devilisn crew, whicn I pray God avert. 

Thomas- Speakman. 
To the Hon. John Winslow, 
Commander at Minas. 



At Annapoli& the proclamation was disobeyed r the inhab^ 
itants were apprehensive that some harm was- intended them, 
and like those at Cumberland, had taken refuge in the neigh- 
boring woods. When the ships arrived to convey them 
from their country, a party of soldiers was sent on shore to 
bring them in, who found all the houses deserted. Hali- 
burton says he was told by an eye-witness of the occurrence, 
that the houses and barns on the Annapolis River were 
burned. He also speaks of a woman living at the time that 
he wrote of Nova Scotia, who was with her parents when 
they delivered themselves up to the Commandant at Annap- 
olis, and who gave a most affecting narrative of then* suffer- 
ings and the dangers to which they were exposed. Hunger, 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTKALS 223 

fatigue, and distress, finally compelled many of them to re- 
turn and surrender themselves prisoners-; some retired deep- 
er into the depths of the forest, where they encamped with 
the Indians; while others wandered through the trackless 
woods to Chignecto, and so escaped into Canada. 

It would appear that no misfortune was too great for 
this people to endure. While war and pillage had beeu go- 
ing on around them for nearly half a century, their peculiar 
situation had enabled them to avoid taking part on either 
side. As a result, they had rapidly increased in wealth and 
numbers, through the benign influences of a life of industry 
and peace: now a sad change had come over their fortunes. 
Though the people had eluded the English soldiery, they 
saw their barns destroyed, their crops of grain and flax con- 
sumed, their houses burned and provisions wasted; they 
found themselves reduced to the alternative of a winter 
journey into Canada, a life among the Indians, or the un- 
certain fate of prisoners among a people, aliens in customs 
and in religion. An adverse fate seemed to await them, no 
matter which course they might choose. The sufferings of 
the women and children, ill-provided with clothing and pro- 
visions, exposed to the autumnal storms and the perils of a 
life in the wilderness, were said to defy description. 

General Winslow remained some time in the Province af- 
ter the sailing of the expatriated Acadians. Various apolo- 
gies have been offered for his share in the cruel business. 
It is claimed he was a soldier, whose duty is to obey the or- 
der of his superior. He, by an artifice, had entrapped over 
lour hundred unarmed peasants, against whom, as individu- 
als, no charge was preferred ; when these were helplessly 
within his power, he threatened them with military execu- 
tion unless others, who had so far eluded his grasp, were 
immediately forthcoming ; and lastly, he had violated his 
**word of honor as a soldier," for he had pledged "that 
whole families should go in the same vessei." Doubtless 



224 



ACADIA 



he thought himself entitled to, and expected, consideration 
at the hands of the authorities of the Province, for the part 
he had acted. On the contrary, his subsequent sojourn 
there was embittered by the ungrateful treatment he re- 
ceived from Governor Lawrence, who made no scruple to 
transfer troops from his command to recruio the Halifax 
garrison. Winslow's expostulations were treated with cool 
contempt; and in his journal he prophesied "it will be the 
last New England force ever marched into Nova Scotia to 
defend their rights," 

As a portion of the several cargoes of the expatriated peo- 
ple of Grand Pi e were consigned to Boston, the home of 
Winslow', he must have been frequently reminded of his 
work, as he beheld, in his daily walks, the mute sufferings 
of the exiles as they dragged out their hopeless, helpless 
existence. Tradition says that temporary shelter was pre- 
pared for them on Boston Common, w T here they were recip- 
ients of such charity as chance threw in their way. Dis- 
ease and want put a speedy end to the unhappy lives of 
many : others became gradually absorbed into the surround- 
ing population. 

Winslow lived to the age of seventy- three, his death oc- 
curring a short time previous to the War of the Revolution. 
It is worthy of remark that Winslow's family were among 
the refugees that were forced to flee to Nova Scotia — the 
soil from whence their ancestor had assisted in driving out 
the Neutrals a quarter of a century before ; while a descend- 
ant of the exiled Acadians, General Sullivan, became a dis- 
tinguished patriot. 

History is replete with instances of the readiness of man, 
in every degree of enlightenment, to lay down his life in 
defense of his right to worship God as he chooses : — the 
Neutrals were denied the services of their priests, when such 
deprivation meant, according to the light of their faith, the 
loss of their hope of happiness in the world to come. 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 225 

"When a single household has been stripped of shelter and 
effects by a sudden unavoidable calamity, the occasion is 
one that calls forth the sympathy of the whole community. 
Here we have hundreds of French exiles, who had lost all, 
by a common calamity, in obedience to the command of 
those in authority. 

Many a mother has clasped her babe more closely to her 
breast as she j^as recalled the circumstances, yet fresh in 
the mind of every reader, of those anxious parents, who, for 
so many long years have been wearily searching for their 
kidnapped boy, until their fortune is spent, and their fore- 
heads have become wrinkled with the living sorrow : the fate 
of those parents but illustrates the experience of those of the 
Neutrals, who passed their lives in searching for members 
of their families which had been purposely scattered to pre- 
vent their reunion. 

The banishment from one's country has ever been ad- 
judged one of the most severe penalties known in juris- 
prudence : this, and the other extremes of human misery, 
the poor exiled Acadians suffered, by the voluntary acts of 
men differing only in language and religion. 

We will append a few opinions from standard historical 
authorities, and close the chapter. The first is from Bell's 
translation of Garneau: 

British agents treated them with the greatest rigor; the 
tribunals, by flagrant violations of the law, by systematic 
denials of justice, had become, for the people, objects of 
terror and hatred. The pettiest jack-in-office became a 
despot for them. "If you fail to supply my men with fuel, " 
said a certain Captain Murray, "I will demolish your houses 
and make firewood of them." "If ycu don't take the oath 
of fidelity," added Governor Hobson, "I will batter your 
villages with my cannon." Nothing could tempt the honor- 
able minds of Acadians to take an oath of fealty to aliens, 
repugnant to their consciences ; an oath which, it was and 



ACABIA 

is the opinion of many, Britain bad no right to exact. The 
Acadiaus were not British subjects, for they had not sworn 
fidelity: therefore they were not liable to be treated as reb- 
els ; neither ought they to be considered prisoners of war 
or rightly be transportable to France, since, during half a 
century, they had been left in possession of their lands on 
the simple condition of remaining neutral. But numerous 
adventurers, greedy incomers, looked upon their fair farms 
with covetous eyes. Smoldering cupidity soon burst into 
flame. Reasons of state polity were soon called in to justi- 
fy the total expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia. — 
Although the far greater number of them had done no act 
which could be construed into a breach of neutrality, yet, 
in the horrible catastrophe preparing for them, the inno- 
cent and the guilty were to be involved iu a common perdi- 
tion. 

In "Walsh's Appeal" we find the following: Seven thou- 
sand of the obnoxious community were torn from their rus- 
tic homes, and transported in a way worthy of being com- 
pared with the "middle passage." . . No proof has ever 
been produced, — none exists, to support the charges which 
Entick prefers against the sufferers — of having engaged to 
join the French troops, and refused absolutely to take the 
oath of allegiance to the British sovereign. On the other 
hand, their own allegations, as he reports them, and which 
gives them strong titles to respect, are upheld by the tenor 
of the official declarations of the British authorities in Nova 
Scotia, who pleaded, little more in substance, than the pos- 
itive orders of their government, and a supposed overruling 
necessity, as regarded the more secure dominion of that ter- 
ritory. Their descendants received universally from them 
the same tale of injustice and woe. It is consigned in the 
petition which they transmitted from Pennsylvania to the 
King of Great Britain, and which bears intrinsic evidence, 
too strong to be resisted by a feedng and unprejudiced read- 



EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH NEUTRALS 2- < 

er, of the truth of all the details.* To complete the histo- 
ry I ought to add, that no attention whatever was paid to 
their prayer either for immediate redress, or a judicial 
hearing. 

Says Haliburton : Upon an impartial review of the trans- 
actions of the period, it must be admitted that the transpor- 
tation of the Acadians to distant colonies with all the marks 
of ignominy and guilt peculiar to convicts, was cruel : and 
although such a conclusion could not then be drawn, yet 
subsequent events have disclosed that their expulsion was 
unnecessary. It seems totally irreconcilable with the idea 
of justice entertained at this day, that those who are not in- 
volved in the guilt shall participate in the punishment; or 
that a whole community shall suffer for the misconduct of 
a part. It is, doubtless, a stain on the Provincial Councils, 
and we shall not attempt to j ustify that which all good men 
have agreed to condemn. 



* The reader is referred to this petition, taken from the draught in the 
handwriting of Benezet, commencing on page 367 of this volume. 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



On the 19th and 20th of November, 1755, three vessels 
appeared in the Delaware, and dropped anchor belo^v Phil- 
adelphia. They were the Hannah, the Three Friends, and 
the JSwan, — the same vessels that, over two months before, 
had leceived their living cargoes at the Port Royal landing 
in the Basin of 'Annapolis. One of them, say the newspa- 
pers of the day, came up to town but was immediately or- 
dered back. Governor Morris, it seems, was thrown into a 
tenible alarm, and on the day the first cargo of them ar- 
rived, he wrote to Governor Shirley: 

"Two vessels are arrived here with upwards of three 
hundred Neutral French from Nova Scotia, whom Governor 
Lawrence has sent to remain in this Province, and I am at 
a very great loss to know what to do with them. The peo- 
ple here, as there is no military force of any kind, are very 
uneasy at the thought of having a number of enemies scat- 
tered in the very bowels of the country, who may go off 
from time to time with intelligence, and join their country- 
men now employed against us, or foment some intestine 
commotion in conjunction with the Irish and German Cath- 
olics, in this and the neighboring Province. I, therefore, 
must beg your particular instructions in what manner I may 
best dispose of these people, as I am desirous of doing any 
thing that may contribute to his Majesty's service. I have, 
in the meantime, put a guard out of the recruiting parties 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN PENNSYLVANIA 229 

dow in town, on board of each vessel, and ordered these 
Neutrals to be supplied with provisions, which must be at 
the expense of the Crown, as I have no Provincial money in 
my hands ; for this service I have prevailed on Capt, Mor- 
ris, who is recruiting here for Colonel Dunbar's regiment, 
to postpone sending off his recruits till I could hear from 
you upon the head, which I hope to do by the return of the 
post." 

Governor Morris found at least one man who shared his 
misgivings touching this untoward visit of the exiles. This 
was Jonathan Belcher, Chief Magistrate of New Jersey, fath- 
ther of Jonathan Belcher, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, and 
member of the Council of that Province, who had, by his 
stern opinion that they were "rebels" and "recusants," 
fixed the doom of that people. The elder Belcher writes 
Moi ris as follows : 

"I am truly surprised how it could ever enter the thoughts 
of those who had the ordering of the French Neutrals, or 
rather traitors and rebels to the Crown of Great Britain, to 
direct any of them into these Provinces, where we have al- 
ready too great a number of foreigners for our own good 
and safety. I think they should have been transported di- 
rectly to old France, and I entirely coincide with your hon- 
or that these people would readily join with the Irish Pa- 
pists, &c, to the ruin and destruction of the King's Colo- 
nies, and should any attempt to land here [Elizabeth town], 
I should think, in duty to the King and to his good people 
under my care, to do all in my power to crush an attempt." 

History does not record that a cargo of French Neutrals 
was ever received in New Jersey ! 

The bitter struggle between Protestantism and Roman- 
ism, which had convulsed the Old "World, and deluged it 
with the most noble blood of the time ; the numerous and 
sanguinary wars between the Georges and the Louises in 
Europe, and which were shared by their respective colonies 



tJL, 



230 ACADIA 

in America; and finally, the actual association of Frencb 
Papists and savages on the frontiers of the English settle- 
ments, and who were at this time advancing in victorious 
array within three hundred miles of Philadelphia, had so af- 
fected the minds of the Protestant English colonists, that 
they looked upon Indians and French Papists alike, with a 
feeing of horror. A gentleman of Philadelphia gave but a 
mild expression of the public sentiment when he wrote, — 
"May God be pleased to give us success against all our 
copper-colored cannibals and French savages, equally cruel 
and perfidious in their natures." 

A short time before the arrival of the exiles, the following 
was published in the Philadelphia papers, under date of 
Ha.ifax: 4i A few days since, three Frenchmen were taken 
up and imprisoned on suspicion of having poisoued some 
wells in this neighborhood. They are not tried yet, and 
it's imagined if they are convicted thereof, they will have 
but a few hours to live after they are once condemned." 

The manifest hatred and prejudgment exhibited in this 
brief paragraph, while it argues the poor fellows stood but 
a poor chance whether guilty or innocent, as plainly shows 
the condition of public sentiment at that time. Were it 
not that these accounts are fully substantiated by incontro- 
vertible evidence, they could scarcely be credited, so strange- 
ly do they sound since national prejudice and religious in- 
tolerance have been dissipated before the light of knowl- 
edge and the benign influence of the Gospel. 

It appears more mcredttietts and unaccountable still from 
the fact that a complete reversion of public sentiment in 
this particular occurred in less than a quarter of a century. 
Washington had scarcely appeared in the Revolutionary 
camp at Boston, when he found preparations being made 
for burning the Pope in effigy. His memorable order of 
November 5th had the effect of putting an end to the cus- 
tom of " insulting the religion " of brethren and co-workers. 



THE FRENCH N LUTEALS IN PENNSYLVANIA 231 

When the French fleet arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, 
to aid the cause of the colonists, the Legislature made all 
haste to repeal a law on her statute-book forbidding a Ro- 
man Catholic to put foot upon her soil under pain of death. 
At Eoston, a funeral procession traversed the streets, with 
a crucifix at its head and priests solemnly chanting; while 
the selectmen of Puritan Boston joined in the ceremony, 
giving this public mark of respect to the faith of their al- 
lies. 

On the 24th of November, Governor Morris made the ar- 
rival of the Neutrals the subject of a special message to the 
Assembly, informing them he did not think it safe to per- 
mit them to land ; but that a contagious disease having bro- 
ken out on board ship, some of them were sent on shore on 
Province Island. 

In the minutes of the Assembly of that Province, the fol- 
lowing entry is made: "Antony Benezet, attending with- 
out, was called in and informed the House that he had, at 
the request of some of the members, visited the French Neu- 
trals now on board sundry vessels in the river, near the city, 
and found that they were in great need of blankets, shirts, 
stockings, and other necessaries; and he then withdrew, 
(whereupon) Resolved, That this House will allow such rea- 
sonable expenses as the said Benezet may be put to in fur- 
nishing the Neutral French now in the Province." 

Thus we have no less evidence than a Legislative record, 
that the poor exiles of Nova Scotia were suffering for the 
necessaries of life, who had not known before what want 
was ; that their continued close confinement had caused an 
alarming disease to break out on their vessels,* demanding 
their instant removal, but the Governor of the Province was 



*The Neutrals were kept on board from the middle of September to the 
close of November, not far short of three months, with a meager diet of 
pork and flour, without ever once being permitted to put foot on land. 



232 ACADIA 

afraid to let them land ! We append a list of names from a 
subscription paper circulated in Philadelphia for their re- 
lief, showing how dangerous a people they were to be let 
loose on the town. The list runs thus i 

" Widow Landry, blind and sickly - r her daughter Bonny, 
blind ; Widow Coprit, has a cancer in her breast - 7 Widow 
Seville, always sickly ; Ann LeBlanc, old and sickly ; Wid- 
ow LeBlanc, foolish and sickly j the two youngest orphan 
children of Philip Melancjon ; three orphan children of Paul 
Bujauld, the eldest sickly, a boy foolish, and a girl with an 
infirmity in her mouth ; Baptist Galerm's foolish child ; Jo- 
seph Vincent, in a consumption ; Widow Gautram. sickly, 
with a young child ; Joseph Benoit, old and sickly ; Peter 
Brassay, has a rupture; Peter Vincent, himself and wife 
sickly — three children, one blind, one very young, &c." In 
these brief paragraphs we find evidences of the intensity of 
their sufferings on shipboard ; and, notwithstanding the 
charitable attentions shown them after their arrival in Phil- 
adelphia, the statement is made that more than one half of 
their number died in a few weeks. 

But the meagre records of those early times show there 
was another influence at work, which was to ameliorate the 
condition of the exile. We refer to hereditary national 
sympathies, which were strong enough to assert themselves 
in spite of the rancor of religious animosity, and work in 
the cause of humanity. There were then, in Quaker garb, 
living in Philadelphia, men of the French race, who though 
Huguenots, still felt kindly to Frenchmen like themselves. 
The Benezets and LeFevers, of Philadelphia, came from the 
same soil as did the Galerms and LeBlancs of Grand Pre ; 
and we may add, the Quaker Huguenots of Philadelphia, by 
their acts toward their exiled brethren, did not in the least 
tarnish the reputation of the followers of William Penn for 
Christian charity and unostentatious benevolence. The 
Acadians, in their first memorial to the Assembly, were con- 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN PENNSYLVANIA 233 

strained to say — "Blessed In God that it was our lot to be 
sent to Pennsylvania, where our wants have been relieved, 
and we have, in every respect, been treated with Christian 
benevolence and charity." 

The Assembly was specially convoked early in February, 
1756, and on the 11th, attention was directed to the Neutrals 
by a petition from one of their number, Jean Baptista Ga- 
lerm. This document contained a statement of the causes 
which led to their exile, an expression of gratitude for the 
kindness shown them, and a protestation of a passive loyal- 
ty (no one had a right to expect more) to the British Crown. 
So modest were they that it contained no prayer for speeiSc 
assistance. A bill was passed for the relief, or, as its rath- 
er ambiguous title expressed it, for " dispersing " the in- 
habitants through the counties, which besa ne a law on the 
5th of March. By the provisions of this act the Acadians 
were to be distributed throughout the Province, in order 
"to give them an opportunity of exercising their own labor 
and industry." They were to be provided for at the public 
expense, while nothing like a separation of familias is hint- 
ed at. 

The French Neutrals exhibited what had been termed a 
species of "contumacy," though they claimed they were only 
asserting their just rights, which contributed not a little to 
their sufferings. They thought that by refusing to work 
they would force their recognition as prisoners of war, and 
as such, be entitled to be exchanged or sent back to France. 
This attempt failed in the object the Acadians had in view, 
and made the duty of kindness and protection on the part 
of their benefactors not an easy one : many were unwiliing 
to help themselves. They were offered land, and imple- 
ments to cultivate, and cows to stock it with ; bat these taey 
refused to accept, as they could by no means agree to set- 
tle there. 

One cannot read the memorials of those people without 



234 ACADIA 

being deeply moved with their passionate longings for their 
beloved Acadia, and their pathetic appeals to be restored to 
liberty, or at least transported to France. " We humbly 
pray," say they to the Assembly, " that you would extend 
your goodness so far as to give us leave to depart from 
hence, or be pleased to send us to oar nation, or anywhere 
to join our country-people ; but if you cannot grant us these 
favors, we desire that provision may be made for our sub- 
sistence so long as we are detained here.* If this, oar hum- 
ble request, should be refused, and our wives and children 
be suffered to perish before our eyes, how grievous will this 
be! — had we not better have died in our native land?" 

On the meeting of the Assembly in October, 1756, there 
is a sad revelation on its records of the sufferings of these 
poor people, — made, too, not by them, but by one of the 
Commissioners appointed to take care of them. Disease 
and death had been busy among their number. Many had 
died of small-pox; and but for the offices of a kindly char- 
ity, many more would have perished miserably. The over- 
seers of the rural townships refused to receive them — they 
were literally the dependants of the Quaker City. The prej- 
udice entertained at that day against those of another re- 
ligion, prevented the employment of such of the Neutrals 
as were willing to work ; and the petition says, "many of 
them have had neither bread nor meat for many weeks to- 
gether, and been necessitated to pilfer and steal for the sup- 
port of life." 



* Those who would justify the forced removal of the Acadians, and 
their retention among a strange people, would do well to explain why the 
principle laid down in this memorial is not founded in equity. They had 
committed no overt act making them amenable to the civil law, and, con- 
sequently, could be held only as prisoners of war, and as such were enti- 
tled, by the laws of war, to be maintained at the expense of the govern- 
ment so holding them; if they were not prisoners of war, then on what 
grounds were they denied the liberty to depart, agreeably to their request? 



!■ 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN PENNSYLVANIA 235 

The simple Acadian farmers, who, a short year ago, in 
their once happy and secluded homes dwelt in ease and were 
surrounded with plenty, were becoming mendicant pilferers 
in the streets of Philadelphia. Who can contemplate the 
contrast unmoved ? 

This appeal resulted in the passage of an Act for binding 
out and settling such of the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia as 
are under age, and for maintaining the old, sick, and maim- 
ed, at the charge of the Province. It was of this measure — 
the compulsory binding out of the children to learn trades — 
that the exi.es most loudly complained, and the most elab- 
orate remonstrance that is to be found on the records, was 
induced by this law. The key-note of this appeal, was as 
before, a prayer for deliverance from captivity ; — a prayer 
that was destined to be answered by the death-angel aione. 

In the spring of 1757, Pennsylvania was honored by the 
presence of the new Commander-in-Chief, the Earl of Lou- 
don. His was the first coronet that ever shone on this dis- 
tant and simple land. Doubtless there were festivities and 
rejoicings when he came; but all this while the poor Neu- 
trals were pining away in misery — not the less real be- 
cause self-inflicted. Say the legislative records, — the au- 
thorities were instructed by the assembly to act for their 
relief, "so as to prevent their perishing from want." 

This Lord Loudon remained only a few days in Philadel- 
phia, jet long enough to show by his acts that his high po- 
sition did not prevent his partaking of the bigotry of the 
period, and to exercise his elevated function in office in heap- 
ing a new indignity on the Neutrals. He found it neces- 
sary to ascertain the exact number of Roman Catholics in 
the Province, so that the terrible danger from this source 
might be provided against. The following answer, returned 
to Loudon by the priest, is found among the Colonial Rec- 
ords : 



236 ACADIA 

Honored Sir: — I send you the Lumber of Koman Catho- 
lics in this town, and of those whom I visit in the country. 
Mr. Schnieder is not in town to give an account of the Ger- 
mans, but I have heard him often say. that the whole num- 
ber of Roman Catholics, English, Irish, and Germans, in- 
cluding men, women and cnildren, does not exceed two 
thousand. I remain, 

Robert Hard?. 

The sad remnant of the poor French Neutrals did not 
seem worth counting! 

In the Colonial Records of 1757, is a sheriff's warrant, is- 
sued by the Governor, at the request of Lord Loudon, di- 
recting the arrest of Charles Le Blanc, Jean Baptiste Ga- 
lerm, Philip Melaneon, Paul Bujauld and Jean Landy, as 
suspicious and evil-minded persons, who have uttered men- 
acing speeches against his Majesty and his iiege subjects. 
They are to be apprehended and committed to jail. 

The following extract of a letter from Lord Loudon to 
William Pitt, is sufficiently curious and characteristic to 
sound strange at the present time : and there is something 
in it which looks more like the delivery of this people into 
slavery than anything else that Pennsylvania annals afford : 

"25th April, 1757. 
Sir: — .... When I was at Pennsylvania, I found 
that the French Neutials there had been very mutinous, 
and had threatened to leave the women and children and go 
over to join th« French in the back country ; they sent me 
a memorial in French setting forth their grievances. I re- 
turned it and said I could receive no memorial from the 
King's subjects but in English, on which they had a gener- 
al meeting at which they determined they would give no 
memorial but in French, and as I am informed they came to 
this resolution from looking on themselves entirely as French 
subjects. 

" Captain Cotterell, who is Secretary for the Province of 
Nova Scotia, and is in the country for the recovery of his 
health, found anion g those Neutrals one who had been a 



THE TRENCH NEUTE \L^ IS PENNSYLVANIA ^7 

Spie of Corn w a 1 lis and afterwards of Governor Lawrence, 
who he tel's me had behaved well both in giving accounts 
of Tvhat these people were doing and in bringing them in- 
tel'io-ence of the situation and strength of the French forts, 
and in particular of Beausejour ; by this man I learnt there 
were five principal leading men among them who stir up all 
the disturbance these people make in Pennsilvania, and who 
persuade them to go and join the enemy, and who prevent 
them from submitting to any regulation made in the coun- 
try, or to allow their children to be put to work. 

•'On rinding this to be the case, I thought it necessary 
for me to prevent, as far as I possibly could, such a j ruc- 
tion to the enemy: on which I secured these five ringleaders 
and put them on board Captain Talkingham's ship, in ordet 
to his carrying them to England, to be disposed of as his 
Majesty's servants shall thmk proper; but I must inform 
you that if they are turned loose they will directly return 
and continue to raise all the disturbance in their power, 
therefore it appears to me that the safest way of keeping 
them would be to employ them as sailors on board ships of 
war. 

Loudon." 

" The Eight Hon. William Pitt." 

On the strength of a report (the truth of which he took 
no legal pains to ascertain) that they caused all the disturb- 
ance, and had, moreover, committed the indignity of memo- 
rializing Loudon in French, that potentate thought the cir- 
cumstance sufficient to warrant their condemnation, unheard, 
to a prison on beard ships of war. It is quite possible that 
the men thus exiled — whose fate is not known — may have 
been the leaders, the speakers, and the writers for the ex- 
iles ; for, after they were sent away, there is no record of any 
further remonstrance on the part of the French Neutrals. — . 
They dwindled away in uncomplaining misery — pensioners 
on charity. They are seldom referred to in public docu- 
ments. 

The following is among the records of the Assembly, un- 
der date of February, 1761: 



238 ACADIA 

"We, the committee appointed to examine info the state 
of the French Neuirals, . . do report — 

"That the late extraordinary expenses charged by the 
overseers of the poor, have been occasioned by the general 
sickness which prevailed amongst them, in common with 
other inhabitants, during the last fa 1 ! and part of th^ win- 
ter ; thil, added to the ordinary expenses of suoporting the 
indigent widows, orphans, aged and decrepid persons, have 
greatly enlarged the accounts of this year. They have like- 
wise a number of children, who bv the late acts of the As- 
sembly, ought to have been bound out to service, but their 
parents have always opposed the execution of these laws, 
on account of their religion ,- many of these children, when; 
in health, require no assistance from the public; but in 
time of sickness, from the poverty of their parents, become 
objects of charity, and must perish without it, 

" Your eommitte called together a number of their chief 
men, and acquainting them with the dissatisfaction of the 
House on finding the public expense so much increased by 
their opposition to those laws, which were framed with re- 
gard to them, and tending immediately to their ease and 
benefit, and assured them that, unless they could propose 
a method more agreeable to themselves for lightening the 
public burden, their children would be taken from them, 
and placed in such families as could maintain them, and 
some effectual method taken to prevent the ill effects of 
idleness in their young people. 

"They answered, with appearance of great concern, they 
were very sorry to find themselves so expensive to the good 
peop.e of this Province; reminded us of the late general 
sickness as the principal cause of it, which they hoped might 
not occur again during their continuance here ; that in ex- 
pectation of lessening this expense, and of obtaining some 
restitution for the loss of their estates, they had petitioned 
the King of Great Britain,* and humbly remonstrated to 
his Majesty the state of their peculiar sufferings, and as the 
Governor had been so kind as to transmit and recommend 
their said petition and remonstrance, they doubted not but 
the King would be so gracious as to grant a part of their 
country, sufficient for their families to settle on, where they 



♦See copy of this document beginning on page 3o7, 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN PENNSYLVANIA 239 

flatter themselves they should enjoy more healthy and, free 
i'rom the apprehension of their children being educated in 
families whose religious sentiments are so different from 
theirs. In the meautime they pray the indulgence of the 
government in suffering them to retain their children, as 
they find, by experience, that those few who are in Prot- 
estant families, soon become estranged and alienated from 
their parents ; and, though anxious to return to Nova Scotia, 
they beg to be sent to old France, or anywhere, rather than 
part with their children: and they promise to incite and en- 
courage all their young people, to be industrious in acquir- 
ing a competency for their own and their parents 1 subsist- 
ence, that they may not give occasion for complaints here- 
after. How lar they may succeed in this, or tneir applica- 
tion to the crown, is very uncertain. We are of opinion 
that nothing short of putting in execution the iaw, which 
directs the Overseers of the Poor to bind out their children, 
wiL so effectually lessen this expense, unless the Governor, 
with the concurrence of the Commander-in-Chief of the 
King's forces, shall think fit to comply with their request 
and transport them out of this Province. 

i; Nevertheless, your Committee being moved with com- 
passion for these unhappy people, do recommend them to 
the consideration of the House, as we hope that no great 
inconvenience can arise from the continuance of the public 
charity towards them for a few months longer : and think 
it just to observe, that there are amongst them numbers of 
inaustrious laboring men, who have been, during the late 
scarcity of laborers, of great service in the neighborhood of 
the city." 

" The application to the Crown" referred to in the above, 
met with no response from the British authorities. When 
the agent of the Province of Massachusetts represented to 
Grenviiie, the British Minister, that his most Christian Maj- 
esty, looking upon the Aeadians as of the number of those 
who had been his most faithful subjects, had signified his 
willingness to order transports for conveying them to France 
from the British Provinces, Grenviiie immediately replied, 
" That cannot be — that is contrary to our acts of naviga- 



24$ acr^FTA 

tion — how can the French Court send ships to our colonies T 9 
as though the law, for once, could not be made to conform 
to the dictates of humanity I Louis XV, touched by the ap- 
peals sent him by the Neatrals transported to Louisiana,, 
made overtures in vain, through his ministers to those of 
Gceat Britain, to be permitted to send his ships to convey 
them to France. 

One more record, and one only, is to be found in the As- 
sembly Journal of Pennsylvania, and that one tells a sad 
tale. It is dared January 4th,. 1766 : 

"A petition from John Hhl, of the eity of Philadelphia, 
joiner, was presented to the house and lead, setting forth 
that the petitioner has been employed from time to time to 
povide coffins for the French Neutrals who have died in 
and about this eity, and has had his accounts regularly al- 
lowed and paid by the Government until lately* that he is 
informed by the gentlemen commissioners, who used to pay 
him, that they have no public money in their hands for the 
payments of such debts; that he has made sixteen coffins 
since their last settlement, without any countermand of his 
former order j he therefore prays the House to make such 
provisions for his materials and labor in the premises as to 
them shall seem meet. Ordered to lie on the table." 

With this coffin-maker's memorial, so suggestive of the 
terrible sufferings and mournful end of the French exiles, 
the authentic history of this people in Pennsylvania ends. 
Iu the Annais of Watson we hnd it stated that "for a long 
time the remnant of the Neutrals occupied a row of frame 
huts on the north side of Pine Street, between Fifth and 
Sixth ; and these ruined houses, known as the Neutral Huts, 
are remembered distinctly by persons now living." What 
at last became of these poor creatures, is not easy to deter- 
mine; their very names have perished from among men! 
It appears from the official records that there was expend- 
ed .or the relief of the exiles by the Pennsylvania legislators 



THE TRENCH NEUTIULS IN PENNSYLVANIA 



241 



a sum not less than $25,000, exclusive of the amount donat- 
ed by private benefaction — always liberal in Philadelphia. 

"What a strange contrast does this sad story bear to the 
next visit of the French to Philadelphia, when they came 
as welcome auxiliaries ! Though less than a score of years 
had passed, French soldiers and French priests went about 
the streets, no longer regarded with fear and distrust,* and 
when, we trust, they walked across the Potters' Field, and 
looked at the moldering remains of the Neutral Huts, and 
traced out the crumbling mounds marking the graves of 
their once happy, but now sadly lamented countrymen, the 
exiled Acadians ! 

* Page 231, first paragraph. 




THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



Boston, 1755. 

Messrs. Apthorp & Hancock to Samuel Harris, Dr. 

To Hire of Sloop Seaflower, Samuel Harris, Mas- 
ter, Charter'd by Capt. Alex. Murray for Bring- 
ing off the French Inhabitants from Minas to 
the Province of the Massachusetts, 81 Tuns, 
from 29th Sept. to 1 Dec. is 2 months 2 days: 
at £43 4 pr. month, £89 5 6 

Governor Lawrence employed the Boston firm of Apthorp 
& Hancock as agents in settling with the owners of the ves- 
sels engaged to transport the Acadians : the above is a copy 
of a bhl which serves to mark one of the steps of the trans- 
action. Transported at a given amount per head, with a 
stated allowance of pork and flour per week, two Neutrals 
to every ton burden — a treatment savoring of no more con- 
sideration than if they had been dumb animals — such weie 
the conditions attending the expulsion of the French Aca- 
dians. Such ships were hired as could be had cheapest — 
oid hulks or otherwise — which were selected without any 
consideration for the comfort and safety of the cargo. On- 
ly a few of the prisoners were allowed on deck at one time 
for fear of a mutiny; the crowding of so great a number oi 
people in close holds, subject to all the miseries of a tedious 
ocean voyage, wrought great changes among the captives. 
Death brought rest to raany sufferers within a short time? 



THE FRENCH NKVTRA.LS IN MASSACHUSETTS 243 

and their bodies were committed to the waves of the rolling 
ocean, without so much as observing one of the solemn rites 
of Christian burial. 

When the ships containing the exiles arrived iu Boston, 
the authorities would not permit them to land for several 
days. Here, as in Philadelphia, a Koman Catholic was held 
as one of the worst of foes to society. There was likelihood, 
too. that they would become a charge to the public, and it 
was some time before the Massachusetts authorities could 
bring themselves to decide on turning a thousand of these 
creatures loose on society. The suffering of the captives 
detained on board the vessels, is said to have been dreadful. 
One Hutchinson, (afterward Governor of Massachusetts,) 
who visited them on board, wrote an account of a case pe- 
culiarly distressing. He found a woman in a dying state 
from the foul atmosphere and uncomfortable quarters, but 
the regulations did not admit of her removal. Three small 
children were with her, requiring a mother's care. To save 
her life, Hutchinson had her conveyed to a house on shore, 
contrary to orders, at his own risk, where the poor widow 
was made comfortable. But disease had wrought too great 
havoc in her fra;-.;e to admit of recovery; she wasted away 
and left her little ones without a protector: but just before 
she died she besought her benefactor "to ask the Governor, 
in the name of their common Savior, to let her children 
remain in the place where sbe died. " 

The Neutrals were finally permitted to land, and tempo- 
rary quarters were fitted up for them on Boston Common ; 
they were afterward distributed to the different towns. At 
first the Acadians set up the claim they were prisoners of 
war, and refused to work, but subsequently became an in- 
dustrious element, 

There was one great difficulty attending their employ- 
ment, however, and that was the prejudice of the people 
against the admission of a papist into their families. Some 



244 ACADIA 

designing employers, too, would refuse to pay the exiles for 
work performed, trusting to this prejudice to bear them out 
in the wrong. One account is recorded where two grown- 
up sons were refused their wages, which amounted to fifteen 
"joes," and were barbarously beaten when they asked for 
their dues, one having his eye put out. Another instance 
occurred at Plymouth where a boy had been dragged off to 
sea by an unfeeling Captain, and the parents, upon remon- 
strating, were cruelly beaten. That there is some ground 
for believing the troth of these allegations appears evident 
from the fact that the Government of Massachusetts at once 
enacted laws with severe penalties for defrauding these per- 
secuted people. 

One large family of Neutrals was sent to Wilmington. — 
They represented that they were placed in a ruined house, 
without doors or windows, in an inclement season of the 
year. The mother, who was sick, was obliged to have her 
bed moved to leeward every time it rained. They had no 
fuel, were denied oxen to get any, and were not allowed 'to 
back it from the woods, A small amount of provisions was 
supplied, and they were told to earn the rest. The man 
complained of the water coming in upon his floor, and "ev- 
ery thing afloat ; " he was told to " build a boat, then, and 
sail about in it!" 

The Neutrals here do not appear to have been received 
with the considerate kindness their brethren were so fortu- 
nate to experience in Philadelphia. They were not permit- 
ted to go from one town to another, and if taken without a 
passpurt from two selectmen, they were to be imprisoned 
five days, or whipped ten lashes, or perhaps both. By this 
treatment, as useless as it was cruel, members of families 
were kept separated from their friends and from each other. 
The meager records of those times show that numerous pe- 
titions were sent, and advertisements were constantly cir- 
culated, to find lost relatives : — it being a f eature peculiar 



THE FRENCH NEUTRALS IN MASSACHUSETTS 24:5 

to their case, that they were left in the most distressing 
doubt as to the face of those nearest and dearest to them. 

In the midst of so much distrust and fanaticism, the un- 
welcome Gallo-Acadians were subjected to the most rigid 
surveillance; there was no deed so dark but they were be- 
lieved to be capable of performing ; and every species of 
crime committed in the vicinity, the perpetrators of which 
were unknown, was attributed with one consent to the pa- 
pists- A petition from one town on the coast asks to have 
the Neutrals " removed to the interior, as they had a pow- 
der-house there, and was afraid they would blow them up." 
The student of humau nature finds in this another illustra- 
tion of the power that education and prejudice exert over 
the judgment of men. The Acadians themselves refer to 
this view entertained toward them by the English — that of 
being addicted to pillage and other warlike exploits. In 
one of their memorials they advance as a reason that they 
could not have possessed the belligerent characteristics at- 
tributed to them, from the fixct* that it was the absence of 
these qualities that enabled the English to obtain such un- 
limited power over them; otherwise, several thousand Aca- 
dians never would have submitted to a handful of English 
soldiers. 

Says Mrs. Williams — "We cannot help remarking, while 
looking over the bills of expenses of that date, presented to 
the Government of Massachusetts, that however they might 
have suffered for food, lodging and clothing, it appears they 
did not lack for medicine. There was a bill of one Dr. Trow- 
bridge, of Marshfield, for visiting nine French Neutrals, and 
administering nine vomits, one hundred and twenty-one pow- 
ders, and eight blisters ! " 

The French Neutrals were greatly superstitious, and gave 
close attention to the " signs of the times." A blight fell 
upon the grain in the ear throughout New England ; this 
the Neutrals attributed to the judgments of God for their 



246 ACADIA 

own fields wantonly laid waste." And the earthquake, whicb 
visited this continent only a lew weeks after their arrival,, 
the most severe ever known here, and which so shook the 
town of Boston as to ring the bells and throw down chim- 
neys, was regarded by them " as the voice of a God who had 
not forgotten them." 

New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, Georgia and even Louisiana, each re- 
ceived a complement of the Acadian Neutrals. Wherever 
they went they exhibited similar characteristics, were sup- 
ported as public paupers, having lost all incentive for any 
mode of industry, and pleading, in the most pathetic tones 
to be restored to Acadia, or to old France. In Louisiana 
they founded a canton to which they gave the ever dear 
name of Acadia. From thence the} 7 memorialized the French 
Crown, and that monarch, commiserating their condition., 
requested but was denied permission, on the part of the 
British Government, to send vessels for their transportation 
to their mother country. Notwithstanding this, some of the 
Acadians did reach France, and "their descendants now in- 
habit two flourishing communes wherein the peaceful habi- 
tudes and rustic peculiarities of their race are stiil recogniz- 
able among the verdant oases which dot the moorlands of 
Gascony." 

Some of the exiles went as far as French Guiana : " and 
certain Frenchmen, banished themselves to Sinnamari, found 
there, in 1798, an Acadian family whose members received 
them hospitably; saying, 'You are welcome I Our ances- 
tors were expelled from their country, even as you are now. 
They taught us to succor the unfortunate. So come into 
our cabin, and let us have the pleasure of rendering yuu 
such consolation therein as we have to bestow.' " 

Count D'Estaing when Governor of Hispaniola, commis- 
erated this people in their misfortunes, and invited them 
to his IsJand, setting apart a particular district to their use. 



THE TRENCH NEUTRALS IN MASSACHUSETTS 247 

A considerable colony availed themselves of the Count's of- 
fer; but neither they nor their kind benefactor had taken 
into consideration the danger attending a change of abode 
to a tropical climate. The result was that a pestilence 
broke out amcng them even before they could prepare 
themselves dwellings. A large number of the inhabitants 
died there, and the rest were forced to emigrate to a differ- 
ent climate. Their kind benefactor, the Count, on learning 
of their shocking mortality, went to visit their settlement. 
He found them in the most pitiable plight, crawling un- 
der the bushes, to screen themselves from the torrid sud, 
and lying down to die. A number found means to return 
to Nova Scotia; here they encamped in the wilderness, and 
it is believed many perished from hardships and exposure. 

It appeals from the records yet extant, that vessels con- 
tinued to arrive at Boston, with new quotas of the exiles, 
until the Massachusetts government put a stop to the pro- 
ceeding. The English soldiary were continually scouring 
Acadia, hunting the French from their hiding places in the 
mountains, and sending them off to Boston by the ship- 
load as fast as collected. 

The mortality among the exiles sent to Georgia, South 
Caroina, and other southern ports, was greater than among 
those sent to the northern colonies, owing to the great dif- 
ference in climate. In July, 1756, seven boats containing 
about ninety of these people coasted along shore from Geor- 
gia and the Carolinas, and put into a harbor in the southern 
part of Massachusetts. Beceiving here some temporary re- 
lief, they sailed along the coast until they were stopped afc 
Boston, where five of the party found and were restored to 
their families. Governor Lawrence, hearing of the circum- 
stance, immediately sent a circular to each of the Governors 
on the Continent, stating he had been informed that some 
of the transported inhabitants were coasting from colony to 
colony on their return to Nova Scotia, and as " their success 



248 ACADIA 

in this enterprise would not only frustrate the design of 
this government in sending them away at so prodigious an 
expense, but would greatly endanger the safety of the Prov- 
ince, especially at this juncture, I think it my indispensable 
duty to entreat your Excellency to use your endeavors 
to prevent the accomplishment of so pernicious an under- 
taking by destroying their vessels." 

It would seem that the Lords of Trade unwittingly com- 
mitted themselves adverse to the means resorted to in this 
forced extirpation, as will be seen by the clause at the close 
of the following sentence, from a letter written to Governor 
Lawrence in 1757: "As to the conduct of the southern col- 
onies in permitting those who were removed to coast along 
from one Province to another in order that they might get 
back to Nova Scotia, nothing can have been more absurd 
and blamable, and had not the Governors of New York and 
Massachusetts Bay prudently stopped them, there is no- 
attempt, however desperate and cruel, which might not 
have been expected from persons exasperated as they must 
have been with the treatment they had met with. 11 

Could a course of persistent memorializing have availed 
the distressed Acadians, they might have had some hope of 
a mitigation of their sentence. Petitions were successively 
sent to the Governors of the Provinces on the Continent, to 
the Governor of Canada and to the Crowns of England and 
France; but their prayers failed of their purpose, and in 
many instances were treated with contempt. The poor ex- 
iles do not appear to have been welcomed anywhere, not 
even by their own countrymen ; they were outcasts, feared 
and despised wherever they turned their steps. We close 
this chapter by an extract of a letter from the Board of Trade 
to Governor Lawrence. England h&i received a batch of 
the Neutrals, and the complaining tone of the letter shows 
the spirit in which the receipt of the invoice was considered. 
It may be premised that although the navigation laws pre- 



THE FKENCH NEUTRALS IN MASSACHUSETTS 249 

vented the punctilious Briton from allowing French vessels 
to take off the Acaclians from the colonies, these scruples 
were somehow set aside when the Neutrals became a burden 
to England, and means were speedily found to restore them 
to France. The extract reads : 

"Notwithstanding what you say in your letter of the Aca- 
dians being received in the several Provinces to which they 
were sent, We must inform you that several hundred of 
them have since been sent over here from Virginia, and sev- 
eral from South Carolina, and that his Majesty has given 
orders to the Lords of Admiralty, to direct the Commission 
for Sick and Hurt Seamen to secure and maintain them." — 
They further express themselves as " extremely anxious till 
we hear what occurs to you with respect to the settlement 
of those lands, which appears to us to be an object of the 
utmost importance.'' 



LOW TIDE. 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA. 



It was in a great measure owing to the effective coopera- 
tion of the New England troops that the Acadians were expa- 
triated from their homes and possessions ; it was to the ISew 
England Colonies that the larger share of that afflicted 
people were sent to be quartered upon the inhabitants. — 
The Massachusetts authorities did not favor being burdened 
with the expense of such a host of public paupers for the 
benefit of another Province, and the subject became one of 
sharp controversy. The Council directed Gov. Phipps to 
inform Governor Lawrence that Massachusetts "received 
them in expectation of being indemnified from all charges 
that might arise upon their account." Gov. Phipps writes: 
"I would therefore desire of your Excellency that you 
would give orders for defraying all such charges as may 
be incurred by the receiving of those inhabitants already 
arrived; and as we are informed that more of these French 
inhabitants may be sent hither I make no doubt but that 
you wiil give orders respecting the charges that may arise 
by this government's receiving and disposing of them also." 

One cause that rendered the people of Massachusetts still 
more sensitive on this point was, that some of the Neutrals, 
returning from Georgia and the Carolinas, had found their 
way back to Boston, as already mentioned, and were added 
to the complement of that colony. " What appeared pretty 
extraordinary was, that these people hacl been furnished 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA 251 

with passports from the Governors of Georgia, South Car- 
olina and New York." 

Gov. Shirley seems to have volunteered his services to qui- 
et the apprehensions of the New Englanders on this point. 
He first observes to the Council that they themselves 
thought the expatriation of the Acadians was a necessary 
measure — thus inferring they were in a manner responsible 
for the consequences. He then adds; "I believe Governor 
Lawrence had no apprehension that it would occasion any 
considerable charge to this Province, or that it would be a 
disagreeable thing to have those people sent here : I am 
sorry that it is likely to prove so burdensome: I have it not 
in my power to support them at the charge of the Crown . 
You have a great deal of encouragement to depend on it 
that his Majesty will not suffer any unreasonable burthen to 
lie upon any of his colonies : I will make full representation 
of the state of this affair and in such a manner as I hope 
you will receive a favorable answer ; and I shall be ready to 
join with you in proper measures to enable and induce these 
persons to provide for their own support and that of their 
families." 

We have already referred to the occasional bad feeling ex- 
hibited between the New England soldiers and the Ha if ax 
regiments, and the complaint of Gen. Winslow of the arbi- 
trary acts of Governor Lawrence in transferring the coloni- 
al troops and refusing to let them return according to the 
terms of their enlistment. The effect of these outrages of 
authority now became apparent. Governor Lawrence com- 
plains to Shirley of "the bad success of our officers in their 
recruiting upon the Continent;" that the New England 
troops still in the Province [February 1756] were clamor- 
ing so loudly to be dischared that he was " inclined to think 
they were put upon it by some of their officers ; " and, fur- 
ther, he was fearful he cjuld not preserve the acquisitions 
made last year on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, and 



252 



ACADIA 



that the whole Province would be continually subject to 
French inroads. Shirley proffers his assurances to the New 
England people, by way of encouraging new enlistments, in 
these words: "You may depend on it that the engagements 
made to the soldiers in order to encourage them to enlist 
shall be fully complied with." 

A number of the Acadians having taken refuge among 
the bays and islands near Gape Sable, Governor Lawrence 
issued to Major Prebble "the necessary orders" for him 
to call at the Cape on his way home with the returning New 
England regiments which had been detained through the 
winter, and convey the inhabitants to Boston. Governor 
Lawrence in a letter to Shirley, says; "I natter myself the 
Government of Massaeb asetts Bay will not find it inconven- 
ient to receive such of ihese inhabitants as the Major may 
be able to carry away with him." The "necessary orders" 
read thus ; " Seize as many of the inhabitants as possible, 
and carry them with you to Boston, where you will deliver 
them to his Excellency, Governor Shirley, with a letter 
you will receive with this order. You are, at all events, 
to burn and destroy the houses of the said inhabitants, 
confiscate their cattle and utensils of all kinds, and make a 
distribution of them to the troops under your command as 
a reward for the performance of this service, and to destroy 
such things as cannot be conveniently carried off." 

This wretched remnant of Acadians at Cape Sable had 
found means to escape from the English, and by great la- 
bor had built huts, and provided themselves with necessa- 
ries sufficient to enable them to subsist through the winter. 
To the credit of Major Prebble, be it said, he did not see 
fit to obey the order. 

Some time subsequent [Sept. 15, 1758], the people of 
Cape Sable sent a memorial to the "Honorable Council in 
Boston," asking their protection, and that they might be 
permitted to remain where they were; or if that could not 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA 253 

foe granted, they asLci to be taken to New England. They 
were willing to pay taxes and to help maintain the war 
against France. They said they were in all about forty fam- 
ilies, consisting of about one hundred and fit uj souls. They 
conclude this petition with, -'Dear Sirs, Do for us what 
lays in your power to settle us here and we will be your 
faithful subjects till death." The Council of Massachusetts 
did not see fit to grant the petition. 

These people, having been reduced to the greatest ex- 
tremities, in 1759 sent a deputation to Governor Lawrence 
with terms of surrender. Accordingly, armed vessels were 
sent to Cape Sable, and one hundred and fifty persons were 
taken on board, and conveyed to George's Island in Halifax 
Harbor, from which place they were afterward sent to Eng- 
land. Of their subsequent disposal, history is silent, but 
the supposition is they were permitted to return to France. 

In December, 1759, the Governor submitted to the Coun- 
cil at Halifax, a letter from Col. Frye, the commanding of- 
ficer at Fort Cumberland, stating that a number of French 
Acadians had come to fche fort under a flag of truce as dep- 
uties for one hundred and ninety French people, residing in 
the departments of Petifoodlac and Meniramcook, with pro- 
posals to surrender themselves. The petitioners said they 
were in a miserable condition for want of provisions, not 
having more among them than could, by the most prudent 
use, keep over two-thirds of them alive till spring; and 
begged of Col. Frye to allow them some, otherwise they 
must all starve. The Colonel wrote, he agreed the French 
should send sixty -three of their number to winter at Fort 
Cumberland, and that the remainder might come out of 
their obscure habitations into the French houses remaining 
at Petitcodiac and Memramcook Eivers, where they should 
live in peace till spring. Col. Frye mentioned that a few 
days later a delegation arrived from the neighborhood of 
Miramichi, with similar proposals. The result is in the 



254 &CADIA 

Colonel's- own words: "I agreed that they should send two 
hundred and fifty of their people to winter here ; and upon 
their informing me that they had twelve vessels in their 
custody, that were taken on the coast of Canso the summer 
past, I ordered the remainder of them to come with thf.ir 
effects in those vessels to Bay Verte, as soon in the spring 
as navigation opened. They seemed well satisfied and prom- 
ised to come, but were afraid they should not be able to get 
their vessels all off (they were all driven on shore by the 
late terrible storm), but would bring all they could. .... 
It pretty evidently appears that early in the spring there 
will be at this place and Bay Verte about nine hundred souls, 
to be disposed of as your Excellency shall see fit." 

In January following, his Excellency communicated a let- 
ter he had received from Gen, Amherst, advising that the 
French inhabitants from St. John Kiver be sent to Europe 
as prisoners of war. The advice of the Council was asked 
as to the expediency of sending not only these, but those 
who had delivered themselves up at Fort Cumberland, on 
boaid of transports to France. The Council " were of opin- 
ion that such a measure would be extremely proper and 
seemed to be absolutely necessary, in order to facilitate the 
settlement of the evacuated lands by the persons who are 
coming from the Continent for that purpose, who otherwise 
would be always liable to be obstructed in their progress 
by the incursions of these French inhabitants." 

Belcher writes to the home government in January of 
1762 : "I have the honor to inform you that a very consid- 
erable body of Acadians, having withdrawn their allegiance 
from his Majesty, and retired to the northern part of this 
Province in the Gulf of the River St. Lawrence, and there 
having taken up arms, and by means of small vessels hav- 
ing infested the navigation of that river, I thought it my 
duty to check and prevent further progress of such great 
mischiefs. ... I gave directions for equipping two small 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA 255 

vessels, on board of which Captain McKenzie, with some of 
the troops, proceeded about the end of October to the place 
of their rendezvous, where he surprised seven hundred and 
eighty-seven persons, including men, women and children. 
Of this number he brought away three hundred and thirty- 
five, as many as he could in that late season of the year re- 
move, and the remainder have promised to come in when it 
shall be thought proper or convenient to request it." 

The fact that piracies on English shipping in the Gulf 
had been perpetrated, coupled with the circumstance that 
some French Acadian settlers were located somewhere on 
the adjacent shores, was thought sufficient, such was the 
state of public sentiment, to make the one responsible for 
the other, without the trouble of direct proof, and without 
granting the accused the privilege of being heard in their 
own defense. 

The French Neutrals remaining in the country found 
themselves despoiled of their lands, their property burned 
or carried off, and themselves hunted* with remorseless rig- 
or among the mountain fastnesses. It is not much to be 
wondered at that the Acadiaus, seeing themselves treated in 
violation of the laws of war, justice or humanity, should see 
tit to make reprisals on the English. Governor Lawrence 
writes of the French inhabitants and Indians, that " by ly- 
ing in wait in the roads where our parties pass and repass, 
have found opportunities of killing and scalping some of 
our people. 1 ' 

General Murray, then Governor of Canada, writes, in 1761, 
to Belcher, in relation to the settling of the Acadian Neu- 
trals in Nova Scotia, thus : " The measure does not appear 



' Says Governor Lawrence in a letter to the Board of Trade — "I am 
in hopes, when the troops ordered from Ireland shall arrive, it will be 
more in mj' power than it hitherto has been, to hunt them out of their 
lurking places, and possibly to drive them entirely out of the peninsula. " 



256 ACADIA 

to me s:> eligible, as the very spot must renew to tbem, in 
all succeeding generations, the miseries the present one has* 
endured, and will perhaps alienate forever their affections 
from its government however just and equitable it may be." 
Early in the summer of 1762, M. de Tourney, having es- 
caped irem Brest with four ships and a bomb ketch, arrived 
at the Bay of Bulls, Newfoundland, where he made prizes 
of English vessels, destroyed the stages and implements of 
fishery of the inhabitants along the coast, and captured the 
unimportant town of St. John. The English of Nova Sco- 
tia were thrown into a state of terrible alarm at the intelli- 
gence of this petty triumph, and were momentarily in ex- 
pectation of a similar visitation. A general insurrection of 
the savages and of the few Acadians in the Province, was 
confidently looked for, as auxiliary to the anticipated at- 
tack of the French fleet. The Council of Nova Scotia made 
a formal address to Governor Belcher,* in which they laid 
down six reasons why the French should be removed out of 
the Province, in effect as follows: 



1. From the insolence of the Indians and the threaten- 
ing of the French, there is the highest reason to believe that 
the designs of the enemy were more extensive than what 
was carried to a successful issue. 

2. That such prisoners as could have escaped would un- 
doubtedly have taken arms with the enemy had the latter 
appeared on the coast. 

3. That these people, seeing the English daily in posses- 
sion of the lands forfeited and formerly occupied by them- 
selves, will forever regret their lost), and will take favorable 
opportunity to regain them. 



'Jonathan Eelcher succeeded Governor Lawrence on the death of the 
latter in 1700. Lawrence did not live to witness the benefits it was an- 
ticipated would accrue to the English from the success of the scheme of 
forcibly extirpating fifteen thousand French inhabitants from the soil of 
their ancestors, which he labored so strenuously to accomplish. 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA 257 

4. That their reh'gion, wherein they demonstrate the 
highest bigotry, must make them in their hearts enemies to 
a British government, however mild and beneficent. 

5. That being bora and bred among the savages, con- 
nected with them by intermarriage, professing the same re- 
ligion, they never fail to inculcate in them a spirit of dislike 
to English heretics ; and who may easily prevail upon the 
Indians to brea": peace and to chase away the English set- 
tlers from their habitations. 

6. That these French Neutrals, as they are now collected 
together, are at present a heavy charge upon the [English] 
inhabitants, who are obliged to mount guard every third 
day and night in their turns, to prevent the escape of pris- 
oners. 

These six distinct charges, of which all but the latter were 
mere assumption, were formally considered by the Council; 
it is not to be wondered at, that where such evidence was 
deemed relevant, where the accusers also sat as judges, and 
where the judges would reap a benefit by a verdict against 
the accused, the poor Neutrals would have little chance of 
escaping condemnation, however innocent they might have 
been. "These, sir, and many more cogent reasons which 
might be enforced, and which will naturally occur to yon," 
say the Council in their address, "we humbly submit to 
vour consideration, and we flatter ourselves you will give 
the necessary orders that these French prisoners maybe re- 
moved out of the Province." 

The records of the Council at Halifax, under date of 26th 
July, 1762, read thus: "The Council do unanimously advise 
and recommend, in the most earnest manner, for the safety 
and security of this Province and its new settlements, that 
the Governor would be pleased to take the speediest meth- 
od to collect and transport the said Acadians out of this 
Province; and do further advise, that as the Province of the 
Massachusetts is nearest adjacent, that the Goven or would 
be pleased to cause them to be transported to that Province 
with all convenient dispatch." 



258 ACADIA 

Accordingly an embargo was laid on all the shipping, and 
martial law declared throughout the Province. The militia 
were ordered to collect the resident Acadians and biing 
them in to Halifax. Governor Belcher declared he put little 
confidence in the Acadians wno had taken the oath, as *■ ii 
and tenors only reduced them to it;"* and he a] 
or-General Amherst, who held the command of the 
English army in Ameiica, and who was then in Xew To:k, 
fci for such means as may be sufficient to ward off any threat- 
ening danger." 

General Amherst dees not seem to have shared in the 
fear- ol Belcher. Ee had written to the Governor but a 
few clays before, that if the removal of the remaining Aca- 
could add to either the security or the advantage of 
the Province o: Nova Scotia, he would be the first to advise 
their expulsion : he did not see that they could have any 
thing to fear from these Acadians, cm that great advantages 
might be reaped in employing them properly. 

General Amherst writes Governor Belcher from New 
York, under date of August 30, 1762: 

" Sir : By an express from Boston I was last night favored 
wiih your letter of the 12m ins::., and at the same time 
learn that five transports, with Acadians, were arrived at 
: ace. 

"Although I can't help thinking that these people might 
have been kept in proper subjection while the troops re- 
mained in Nova Scotia, yet I am glad you have taken meas- 
ures for removing them; .... I doubt not but you have 
wrote to Governor Bernard concerning them, but I shall by 
i of express, desire he be pleased to dispose of me 
Acadians in such a manner as he judges best, in the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay, where they must remain for tne 
present, taking care to separate them as much as possible, 

* Historians who have attempted to justify the expulsion of the Acadi- 
ans. have set forth the claim, that had the French taken the Oath of Al- 
W- mice they might have stained nossession of their lands. 



AFFAIKS IN ACADIA 259 

to prevent their doing any mischief, as well as returning to 
their old habitations. 

"I could have wished that those who inhabited the back 
part oi' the Province had been sent to Canada, agreeable to 
Governor Murray's request. ... I am persuaded that nei- 
ther the Acadians, Canadians, nor Indians, had any knowl- 
edge oi' the intentions of the enemy who have been landed 
at Newfoundland." 

By the foregoing it will be seen that the resolution of the 
Government at Halifax, relative to transporting the Acadi- 
ans, had been carried out. The vessels containing this un- 
fortunate people arrived in Boston Harbor in due time, and 
were ordered to lie under the guns of Castle William until 
the General Assembly could take action in the premises. 
The dispatches from the Governor of Nova Scotia were pro- 
duced before that body, who, instead of admitting the pris- 
oners into the Province as requested, required Governor 
Bernard on no account to permit them to land, and become, 
as their predecessors had been, a charge to the public. A 
report of these proceedings was transmitted to General Am- 
herst, but before a reply could be received the Assembly 
was prorogued. Massachusetts had received no compensa- 
tion ior the expenses already incurred on behalf of the Neu- 
trals, and was not inclined longer to indulge Nova Scotia 
by quartering this additional number on her colonists.* 
Nothing therefore remained but tor the transports to return 
with their passengers to Hauiax ; and the Bostonians had 
the satisfaction of seeing the vesseis setting ail sail for 
Nova Scotia waters before any further orders could be re- 
ceived concerning them. 

Governor Belcher characterized the means made use of by 
Massachusetts in sending back the Acadians as "precipitate," 
and complained loudly of the persuasion brought to bear 



Subsequently this debt was paid by Parliament. 



260 ACADIA 

with Captain Brooks inducing iiirn " to return with the Aca- 
dians back iuto this Province, to the great danger thereof, 
and the distress of all the inhabiiants. By all which man- 
agement, the public has incurred a very considerable and 
fruitless expense, and Sir Jeffrey Amherst's intention for the 
disposal of those prisoners has, for the present, been entire- 
ly bs filed, and his expectations disappointed." 

The Lords of Trade, in a resolution touching the com- 
plaint of Governor Belcher against the Massachusetts Colo- 
ny, conveyed a mild but unmistakable reproof. "Their 
Lordships," so reads their record, "could not but be of 
opinion, that however expedient it might have been to have 
removed them at a time when the enterprises of the enemy 
threatened danger to the Province, and it was weakened by 
the employment of great part of the troops stationed there 
upon another service, yet as that danger is now over and 
hostilities between the two nations have ceased, it was nei- 
ther necessary nor politic to remove them, as they might by 
a proper disposition, promote the interest of the colony, 
and be made useful members of society, agreeable to what 
appears to be the sentiments of General Amherst in his 
letter to the Governor." 

In March, 1764, the number of Acadians remaining in the 
Province of Nova Scotia, was four hundred and five families, 
or nearly eighteen hundred souls, besides three hundred on 
Prince Edward Island. In December of that year "six 
hundred Neutrals departed for the French West Indies, 
where they were to settle on lands unlit for the sugar-cane, 
and although they had certain accounts that the climate had 
been fatal to the lives of several of their countrymen, who 
Lad gone there lately from Georgia and Carolina, their res- 
olution was not to be shaken. Thus we are in the way of 
being relieved from these people who have been the bane of 



Governor Wilmot, successor to Governor Belcher, 



AFFAIRS IN ACADIA 261 

the Province, and the terror of its settlements." This 
would leave bat about fifteen hundred Acadian French with- 
in the Province of Nova Scotia in 1762, out of a population 
of nearly eighteen thousand in 1755, previous to the first 
expulsion from Acadian soil. 

We are pleased to add that the suggestion of the Lo ds 
of Trade, to absorb into the population the remnant of 
French Neutrals within the Province, was finally, by s'ow 
degrees, carried into effect. In 1763, a resolution was tak- 
en, having the sanction of the Governor of Quebec and No- 
va Scotia, to remove all the remaining Acadians into some 
distant district of Canada. Happry that measure was nev- 
er put into execution. Although the Acadian e'. em ant helps 
swell the population, the French are peculiarly a distinctive 
people, preserving the customs and the language of their 
forefathers, even when surrounded with modern innovations; 
seldom intermarrying with their English or German neigh- 
bors, and living apart in French hamlets, from which the 
outer world is excluded. A brief history of the Madawaska 
settlement is here appended, with which our notice of the 
French Neutrals, except as spoken of incidentally, must 
close. 

The Madawaska settlement is a range of clearing at least 
sixty miles in length, with the town of Madawasira as the 
center, occupying a favorable position at the confluence of 
the St. John and Madawaska Rivers. This settlement con- 
tains upwards of eight thousand inhabitants, half of them 
living within the State of Maine. Surrounding Madawas- 
ka is an immense and trackless forest which " covers an ex- 
tent seven times that of the famous Black Forest of Germa- 
ny at its largest expanse in modern times. The States of 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Delaware could be lost to- 
gether in this forest, and still leave about each a margin of 
wilderness sufficiently wide to make the exploration with- 
out a compass a work of desperate adventure." 



2S2 ACADL& 

The people of this settlement are descended from the 
French colonists who lived on the shores of the Eay of 
Fundy and the Basin of Minas, who fled from the Anglo- 
American troops under Moncton and TVinslow, and took 
refuge in the forest, A portion of them fled up the River 
St. John to the present site of Frederickton, where they 
founded the village' of St. Anne. Here among the rich 
meadows, bordered with groves of stately elms and other 
forest trees, the Minas and Port Royal refugees established 
themselves once more, and began to reap the benefits of 
well-directed industry, on a soil as fertile as any the sun ever 
shone upon. Seventeen years passed over the smiling vil- 
lage of St. Anne — then came another evil day for the French 
who had aforetime "dwelt by the Basin of Minas." 

In 1784. came the American Loyalists into the Province y 
themselves exiles from their homes, and who, as their fore- 
fathers had done, drove away the unhappy French from 
their farms and firesides ; in the following year the Govprnor 
of the Province, Sir Guy Carleton of Revolutionary fame, 
established the capital here, in view of the attractive natural 
features of the place.* 

Provoked beyond endurance, the Acadians a second time 
set out in search of a home. They plunged into the depths 
of the forest, and evidently thought they would go far enough 
to escape being again molested. The traveler over the 
route at the present day will wonder how the families man- 
aged to traverse the many weary miles to their destination. 
Where was then an unbroken wilderness, now pretty villag- 
es dot the landscape, and cultivated fields meet the view. 
In the names of the settlements and the ancestry of their peo- 
ple the history of the British Flag can be traced. A few 
miles above Frederiekton is the rural parish of Kingsclear, 



* Nearly opposite is the mouth of the Nashwaak Eiver, whose valley 
was settled by disbanded soldiers of the old Black Watch [42d Highland- 
ers]. 



— 



ATFAIRS IN ACADIA 263 

settled in 1784 by the 2d Battalion of New Jersey Loyalists. 
Further oa is the parish of Prince William, originally set- 
tled by the King's dragoons, and now occupied by their 
descendants; also the hilly uplands of the parish of Queens- 
bury, which were settled by the Queen's Bangers after the 
Revolutionary war $ while beyond Woodstock are districts 
peopled by the descendaDts of the West India Rangers and 
New Brunswick Fencibles. 

The tourist next passes the Grand Falls, and afterwards 
enters the Acadian-French settlements and farming districts. 
The rich tracts of intervale along the rivers in this locality, 
were sufficient to attract the Acadian refugees, and here they 
once more began to carve out a subsistence from the wilder- 
ness. A traveler writes : "It was pleasant to drive along 
the wide, flat intervale forming the Madawaska Valley ; to 
see the rich crops of oats, buckwheat and potatoes, and the 
comfortable houses of the inhabitants ; aiso the river, on 
which an occasional boat, laden with stores for the lumber- 
ers, with the help of stout horses, toiled against the current 
towards the rarely-visited headwaters of the tributary 
streams, where the virgin forests still stand unconscious of 
the ax." This district is studded with Roman Catholic 
chapels,* from whence, each morning and evening, are 



*A curiosity in this place (Chicoutimi, a few miles below the most 
southern fall on the river) is a rude Catholic church, which is said to 
have been built by the Jesuit Missionaries upwards of a hundred years 
ago. It occupies the center of a grassy lawn, surrounded by a cluster of 
wood-crowned hills, and commands a tine prospect, not only of the Sague- 
nay, but also of a spacious bay, into which there empties a noble moun- 
tain stream, now known as Chicoutimi Biver. In the belfry of this ven- 
erable church hangs a clear-toned bell, with an inscription upon it which 
the learning of Canada (with all its learned and unnumbered priests) has 
not yet been able to translate or expound. But great as is the mystery of 
this inscription, it is less mysterious to my mind than are the motives of 
the Romish Church in planting the cross in the remotest corners of the 
earth as in the mightiest of cities. (Charles Lannian. ) 



2C4 kCXDTM 

heard the matin and vesper bells, in that far off" T and. Ah 
occasional roadside shrine, in the shape of a wooden eross r 
erected at the intersection of roads, and surrounded by vo- 
tive offerings, before which the peasantry, as they pass, al- 
ways stop to cross themselves and offer a short invocation 
to the patron saint in whose honor the shrine is set up, is 
another evidence of the devotedness of a people to the re- 
ligion of their fathers. 

Another peculiarity of these settlements, — and exclusive- 
ly a French custom, whose people are wont to live in ham- 
lets rather than apart like the average American or English. 
farmer, — is the narrow farms of the Acadians. The dwel- 
lings of a farming community are in clusters on two sides of 
a village street, while the farms, only a few rods in width,, 
run far back into the country. The following is a picture 
of a Madawaska home: 

"The whole aspect of the farm was that of metairie in 
Normandy ; the outer doors of the house gaudily painted, 
the panels of a driferent co'or from the frame, — the large, 
open, uncarpeted room, with its bare, shining floor, — the 
lasses at the soinning-wheel, — the French costumes and ap- 
pearance of Madame and her sons and daughters, — all car- 
ried me back to the other side of the Atlantic/' 



DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE IN AMERICA. 



In January, 1757, Lord Loudon arrived in Boston, clothed 
with the chief command of the army in America. He called 
together his military council, Governor Lawrence of Nova 
Scotia being present and allowed a voice in the consulta- 
tion. In the measures proposed for the overthrow of the 
French in America, it was decided not to attempt a complete 
reduction at once; but by concentrating all their force at 
one point, win their way gradually on French territory. 
The capture of Louisbourg was adjudged the first enter- 
prise to be attempted, and Haifax was fixed upon as the 
place of rendezvous for the fleet and army destined for the 
work of demolition. In July of that year Admiral Holborne 
arrived at Halifax with a powerful fleet, having on board 
five thousand land troops under command of Viscount 
Howe ; here the force was augmented by Lord Loudon in 
person, with six thousand infantry from New York. Some 
small vessels were sent out as scouts to reconnoitre the en- 
emy, which brought back the unwelcome news that a large 
fleet of French ships of war and transports were riding safe 
at anchor in the harbor of Louisbourg. Though many were 
of opinion that the number of the enemy was greatly over- 
rated, the intelligence occasioned extraordinary fluctuations 
in the Council of War. While the counsels for prosecuting 
the expedition with v.gor and the counter proposition to give 



266 



ACADIA 



it up entirely, were being urged with vehemence, a packet 
bound from Louisbourg to France was captured by an Eng- 
lish cruiser stationed at New-Foundland; on board of this 
vessel were found letters by which it appeared that there were 
in Louisbourg, six thousand regular troops, three thoi s md 
resident soldiers, and thirteen hundred Indians, seventeen 
ships of the line and three frigates being moored in the har- 
bor; that the place was well supplied with provisions and 
all hinds of military stores, and that the enemy wished for 
nothing more than to be attacked. The commauders at 
Halifax were fully conscious of the futility of attempting a 
reduction of Louisbourg under those circumstances, and also 
how fatal an unsuccessful attempt would be to British in- 
terests in America : it was resolved to postpone the attack un- 
til some more convenient opportunity. Admiral Holborne 
determined on taking a look at the enemy, however, and on 
the 20th of August he appeared before Louisbourg harbor 
with fifteen ships of the line, four frigates and five ships. 
The French Admiral at once made signal to unmoor, mis- 
taking the display of English shipping as a challenge to a 
combat outside : Holborne's intention being simply to recon- 
noitre, and not deeming himself strong enough to cope with 
so formidable an adversary, he sailed back to Halifax. A 
few weeks afterwards, having been joined in the meantime 
by four additional ships of war, Admiral Holborne returned 
to Louisbourg, determined to risk a naval engagement with 
the enemy ; the French Admiral, La Motle, was in no humor 
to fight this time, unsupported by the guns of the fort — 
probably deeming the issue too great to warrant, volunta- 
rily, his yielding any advantage. 

The English squadron continued cruising before Louis- 
bourg until the 25th, when a terrible storm broke upon 
them. In tw T elve hours the whole fleet were driven within 
two miles of the breakers on the rock-bound coast of Cape 
Breton, and total destruction seemed inevitable; providen- 



DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE IX AMERICA 267 

tif^ly the wind veered in time to permit the vessels to es- 
cape with a single exception. Eleven ships were dismasted, 
others threw their cargoes overboard, half of the wrecked 
vessel's crew were lost, and the whole fleet returned to 
England in a shattered condition. 

This unsuccessful expedition against Lotiisbouig, by 
drawing so many troops and valuable officers away from the 
Continent, left the frontiers of the Colonies in an exposed 
situation; the French, seizing their opportunity had taken 
full possession of Lake Champlain and Lake George, and 
likewise of all the territory west of the Alleghany Mount- 
ains. But the appointment of Mr. Pitt to the Premiership 
inspired new hopes in all parties at home and in America. 
Immediately on assuming the duties of that office he wrote 
a circular letter to the Colonies, assuring them of a deter- 
mination on his part of sending out an immense armament 
early in the season, and calling upon them to cooper- 
ate with him with as large levies of Provincial troops as 
they could raise. The latter were ready to take the field 
early in May, previous to which Admiral Boscawen had ar- 
rived at Halifax with a formidable fleet, and a powerful ar- 
my under General Amherst. 

The combined forces, with the magnificent array of one 
hundred and fifty sail, and fourteen thousand men, put to 
sea. and on the 2d of June, 1758, anchored in Gabarus Bay, 
about seven miles to the westward of Louisbourg. The 
place was garrisoned by twenty-five hundred regular troops 
and three hundred militia, under Chevalier Drucor: they 
were afterwards reinforced by three hundred and fifty Cana- 
dians and Indians. Six French ships and five frigates 
guarded the harbor, three of which were sunk at the entrance 
to obstruct the passage of the English vessels. 

Six days elapsed before the violence of the surf admitted 
of an attempt to embark. On the seventh the order was 
given to effect a landing. The troops were distributed in 



268 



ACA.DIA 



tbree divisions, the better to accomplish their purpose. The 
light and center under command of Governor Lawrence and 
General Whitmore, were directed to make a show of laud- 
ing, to engage the attention of the French, while the real at- 
tempt was made in another quarter by the left division un- 
der General Wolfe. The French reserved their fire until the 
boats had nearly reached the shore, when they opened up- 
on them with a murderous discharge of grape and musket- 
ry ; this had the effect, aided by the surf which was now high, 
to overset some of the boats, and create a temporary con- 
sternation among the English. But the spirit and example 
of General Wolfe inspired his men to a heroic effort, and 
the beach was gained at the creek of Corinoran, not without 
severe loss: and the French were compelled to take shelter 
in the town. 

The stores and artillery having with great difficulty been 
Lauded, General Wolfe was detached with two thousand men 
to take possession of Light House Point, an important post 
from which the shipping in the harbor and the town might 
be greatly annoyed. On his approach the French aban- 
doned the place; the English put several strong batteries 
there, and by the 25th, had effectually silenced the Island 
battery, which was direct/y opposed to it. Tne besieged 
had tried the effect of several sallies on the assailants, out 
to little purpose ; while the English were making slow and 
cautious approaches to the fortress. 

Two of the French fleet had eluded the vigilance of the 
blockading ship and escaped; a third, on making a similar 
attempt, was captured. About a month afterward, one of 
the largest of the French ships blew up ; the explosion hav- 
ing communicated the fire to two other vessels, all were con- 
sumed to the water's edge. Admiral Boscawen, following 
up these reverses of the enemy, sent six hundred men in 
boats to make an attempt on the two ships of the line yet 
remaining of the French fleet in the Basin, — the Prudent, 



TJOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE IN AMERICA 269 

a seventy-four, and the B ienfaisant, a sixty -four gun ship. 
The former, which had been run aground to escape capture, 
was destroyed; the latter was towed past the batteries in 
triumph, the English losing but seven men killed and nine 
wounded This gallant exploit put the English in posses- 
sion of the harbor. In the meantime several breaches had 
been made in the works by the continual cannonade, so t e 
place was no longer considered defensible. The Governor 
offered to capitulate on conditions which were rejected by 
the English, who believed they were in a way to enforce 
their own terms. Admiral Eoscawen demanded that the 
garrison should surrender themselves prisoners of war, or 
sustain an assault by sea and land; to these conditions, hu- 
miliating as they were, the French were obliged to submit 
The terms stipulated that the garrison were to be conveyed 
prisoners of war to England ; that the provisions and mili- 
tary stores in the Islands of Cape Breton and St. John be 
delivered over to the English ; and that the merchants and 
clerks who had not carried arms, be sent to France. 

On the 27th of July, three companies of Grenadiers took 
possession of the Dauphin Gate, and Gen. Whitmore was 
detached into the fortress to see the garrison lay down their 
arms and deliver up their colors on the esplanade, and to 
post the necessary guards within the town. Thus at the 
expense of about four hundred men, in killed and wounded, 
the English obtained possession of the important Island of 
Cape Breton and the strong fortress of Louisbourg, con- 
taining two hundred and thirty-one pieces of cannon, eight- 
een mortars, and a considerable quantity of provisions and 
military stores. The loss of this fortress was the more se- 
verely felt by the French King, as it was accompanied by 
the destruction of so many line-of-battle ships and frigates. 

The intelligence of this brilliant victory to the British flag 
was conveyed to England by a swift-sailing vessel dis- 
patched for that purpose, and which likewise conveyed 



270 ACADIA 

eleven pairs of colors taken from the French, These colors 
were, by order of his Majesty, carried in pompous parade 
from the Palace of Kensington to St. Paul's Cathedral, es- 
corted by detachments of Horse and Foot Guards, with 
kettle-drums and trumpets, where the captive flags were de- 
posited as trophies, under a discharge of cannon and other 
demonstrative expressions of triumph and exultation. 

Some vessels were sent to take possession of the Island 
of St. John, [Prince Edward Island,} which, from its po- 
sition in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the fertility of its 
soil, had since the beginning of the war supplied Quebec 
with a considerable quantity of provisions. It was likewise 
the asylum to which the French Neutrals of Annapolis had 
fled three years previous, and the retreat from whence they 
and their Indian allies used to make their irruptions into 
JSova Scotia. Over four thousand French inhabitants sub- 
mitted and brought iii their- arms. In the Governor's quar- 
ters were found several English scalps tnat had been brought 
in by the Indians, who had been awarded by the French a 
certain premium on every scalp. The Island was found to 
be well stocked with cattle, and some of the farmers raised 
each twelve hunched bushels of corn every year for the Que- 
bec market. 

Previous to the fall of Louisbourg the cause of the French 
in America began to wane ; her deciine after that event was 
rapid. After an ill-judged but gallant assault upon Ticon- 
deroga, in which Ambercrombie was defeated with the loss 
of two thousand men, he dispatched Colonel Bradstreet with 
a force against Frontenac,* by way of Oswego and Lake 
Ontario. The capture of this was easily effected, in which 
were found sixty pieces of cannon, and an immense quantity 
of stores. Bradstreet lost very few men in action ; but a 
terrible disorder broke out in camp which proved fatal to 



* Kingston, Upper Canada. 



I>OWXFALL OF FBEtfCH RULE IN AMERICA 271 

£ve hundred of the gallant little army. On their return they 
built a fort on the site of Rome, N, Y., to which they gave 
the name of Fort Stamvix. 

The reduction of Fort du Quesne was soon afterward ac- 
complished by the forces under General Forbes, who in com- 
pliment to the Premier under whose auspices these opera- 
tions weie conducted, gave it the name of Pittsburg. 

Major General Amherst had now [1759] succeeded to the 
command of the army in North America ; he signalized ids 
appointment by the bold project of attempting the entire 
conquest of Canada. Eis plan was to send three powerful 
armies into the country by different routes, and simultane- 
ously attack all the strongholds of the French. The cap- 
ture of Quebec, the reduction of Niagara, and the investment 
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, by the several divisions of 
the army, were completely successful. Military men have 
condemned this p]an as subject to many casualties which 
might have frustrated its execution and endangered the safe- 
ty of each division of the army, but circumstances were pro- 
pitious to the success of the English arms. 

The division sent against Quebec was commanded by 
General "Wolfe, and consisted of eight thousand troops un- 
der convoy of twenty-two line-of-battle ships, and a like 
number of frigates and smaller vessels. An unsuccessful 
attack on the French, July 31st, resulted in a loss of five 
hundred of the English troops. At the beginning of Sep- 
tember, as Wolfe lay in his tent prostrate from fever, brought 
on by excessive labor and over-anxiety, he called a council 
of war; on the suggestion of Townsend, it was decided to 
make a second attempt by scaling the hights of Abraham, 
and assailing the town on its weakest side. Wolfe heartily 
endorsed the plan, and he arose from his sick-bed to lead 
the assault in person. The English were encamped at Mont- 
morenci, below the town ; on the 13th the camp was broken 
up, the soldiers embarked on board several vessels of the 



272 ACADia 

fleet, and at evening ascended several miles above the city^ 
Leaving the ships at midnight, they embarked in flat-boats,, 
and with muffled oars dropped silently down stream, arriv- 
ing opposite the month of a ravine a mile and a half from; 
the city, at which point they effected a landing, 

Lieutenant-Colonel Howe led the van up the ravine at dawn, 
in the face of a sharp fire from the guard above ; he was 
closely followed by his generals and the remainder of the 
troops, with artillery? at sunrise the entire army stood in 
battle array on the Plains of Abraham. 

The surprise of Montcalm at this sudden appearance of a 
hostile army before the city at its most vulnerable point, 
was only equaled by his fears for the safety of the place. 
He was already out-generaled, — nothing now remained but 
to fight as a soldier. He brought his army across the St. 
Charles River, arid by nine o'clock the French were drawn 
up in line of battle between the British troops and the city. 

The moment was big with interest to the two great powers 
of Europe ; this battle was to determine the supremacy of 
the fleur-de-lis, or the banner and cross of St. George, on 
the American Continent. Montcalm, with 7,500 well-trained 
soldiers, confronted 4.800 British regulars under Wolfe. 
Both generals were young men, enjoying the full confidence 
of the soldiers, ranking among the highest of the military 
chieftains of Europe, and each ambitious to signalize the day 
by a grand victory for his respective King. The scene was 
beautifully grand — the quiet landscape, the rolling river, 
the spires and tin roofs of the cit}', the evolutions of the 
troops, all lighted up by the rays of the morning sun, and 
enlivened by the blare of trumpets, the roll of drums and 
the strains of martial music. Yet the beautiful scene was 
in a moment to be changed. The ominous roil of musketry, 
the smoke of battle, the angered voices of the combatants^ 
and the groans of the wounded and dying, were to succeed 
this scene of earthly magnificence. 



DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE IN AMERICA 273 

Montcalm led the attack. The French came on with 
their wonted impetuosity. The opposing ranks of the Eng- 
lish stool with arms at rest as if on parade, motionless 
only as they closed up the ghastly gaps after receiving each 
volley, — then as calmly awaiting the next. Nearer and 
nearer came the platoons of the French ; deadlier the stream 
of leaden fire that rained against the living wall ; yet not a 
British soldier vacated his post only as his life went out, 
when his comrades silently and mechanically closed up the 
breach, and presented the same unbroken front of scarlet- 
coated veterans. The ranks of the English were fast melt- 
ing away before the murderous fire ; fully one- fourth of their 
number had already fallen, yet not a shot had been returned, 
not a tittle of the strictest military discipline had been vio- 
lated ; — they stood calmly awaiting the order to fire. 

The practical eye of Wolfe now saw the opportune mo- 
ment had arrived. The French were within forty yards of 
the British lines, and still advancing. The necessary or- 
ders were given. Every gun along the whole line was 
brought into position with all the coolness and precision of 
a review parade, as if the whole were one great machine, 
moving obediencly to the touch of the engineer. A flame 
of fire belched forth from hundreds of black-throated barrels 
as though from a single gun: the French line was carried 
forward by its own momentum a few paces, then reeled, 
and it seemed the whole rank had fallen. When the smoke 
from the volley had cleared away, what a scene of carnage 
was there disclosed! Before the French could recover, 
Wolfe gave the order to charge; in a few moments the 
French were flying in every direction, leaving the British 
masters of the field. England, through the valor of the he- 
roic Wolfe, had won a right to assert her supremacy over 
the soil of America. 

Wolfe and Montcalm were both fatally wounded on the 
field of battle, and the concluding movements of the con- 



274 ACADIA 

fiict were carried on by their officers. As the eyes of Wolfe 
were closing in death, his well-trained ear detected shouts 
of victory. "The French give way everywhere," said an 
officer in response to his inquiry. "Then," said he, "I die 
contented/' With one more effort — the last order he was 
to give, the last word he was to speak — he said ; " Teli Col. 
Burton to march Webb's regiment with all speed to St. 
Charles River, to cut off the retreat," and immediately ex- 
pired. 

Montcalm, on receiving his mortal wound, was carried in- 
to the city; and when told that he must die, he said, "So 
much the better ; I shall then be spared the mortification of 
seeing the surrender of Quebec." 

Great was the enthusiasm displayed by the English peo- 
ple everywhere, on the overthrow of French domination on 
American soil. Illuminations, patriotic addresses, and pub- 
lic rejoicings were given in every town throughout England, 
except the little Kentish village of Westerham, where lived 
the widowed mother of Wolfe, who now mourned the death 
of an only son. 

It may be that other mothers have felt the pangs of sep- 
aration from a heart's idol as poignantly as did this widow, 
but we doubt if a mother's grief was ever before shared 
with such unanimity by a whole nation, or that a hero's death 
was ever more gratifying to the heart of the true soldier 
than was that of Wolfe expiring amid the salvos of artillery, 
the shouts of victory, and assured of the blessings of the 
English -speaking people of two Continents. 

Wolfe's remains were embalmed and sent to England. 
They were landed at Plymouth with the highest honors, 
minute guns were fired, the flags hoisted at half-mast, and 
an escort with arms reversed received the coffin on the shore. 
They were then conveyed to Greenwich, and buried beside 
those of his father who had died but a few months before. 

The remains of his brave competitor, Montcalm, still re- 



DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE IN AMERICA 



275 



pose in the Ursuline Convent at Quebec,* in an excavation 
in its wal 1 . made by a shell during the action in which he 
lost his life. The French and English residents of the ci^y 
have erected a monument on the battle-field, dedicated to 
the linked memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. 



'Montcalm's skull is carefully preserved under glass. 




ENGLISH OCCUPATION. 



IHtli the fall of Quebec and other French reverse?, the 
English became complete masters of a territory which had 
been a source of bitter strife for upwards of two centuries, 
and a definite treaty was signed at Paris between France and 
England oil the 10th of February, 1763. 

The English deemed it inexpedient to maintain a costly 
garrison at Louisbourg ; and as its capture at any future 
period by the French might endanger the safety of Nova 
Scotia, the British crown determined on its reduction. Ac- 
cordingly, a company of sappers and miners had been sent, 
who. in the space of six months, at an immense expenditure 
of money and labor, reduced the fortifications to a heap ol 
rubbish by means of mines, judiciously exploded. The walls 
and glacis were leveled with the ditch, and nothing was left 
standing but the private houses, which had been badly torn 
and shattered during the siege, together with the hospital 
and a barrack capable of holding three hundred men.* At 
the present time neither roof nor spire remains, — no street. 
convent, church, nor barrack. " The green turf covers all— 

* Much of the building-stone composing this f ortress, so it is said, wa* 
transported hither from France. At its reduction, considerable of this 
material was conveyed to distant pares. Some of the public buildings in 
Halifax, and many of the stone edifices in the various cities along the 
Xew England coast as far as Boston, contain portions of this once power* 
f ul fortress. 



"ENGLISH OCCUPATION 277 

even the foundations of the houses are buried. It is a city 
without an inhabitant. Dismounted cannon, broken bayo- 
nets, gun-locks, shot and shell, corroded and corroding, in 
silence and desolation, with no signs of life visible upon 
these war-like battlements except tbe flocks of sheep, — these 
5,1 e the only relics of once powerful Louisbourg." 

Says a recent writer, M With the Treaty of Paris, the his- 
tory of Acadia ends," In our opinion the record would be 
quite incomplete, did we not include the subsequent for- 
tunes of the many Acadians who eventually returned to the 
country, if not to the soil, from whence they were expatria- 
ted; or failed to mention the circumstances attending the 
Te-peopiing of the vast amount of fertile lands vacated by 
the dispossessed French farmers. 

The local government at Halifax went vigorously to work 
to insure the tranquility of the Province, and to induce em- 
igration from the Continent. In 1761 there arrived from 
Boston six vessels, having on board two hundred settlers, 
and four schooners from Ehode Island with half that num- 
ber; New London furnished one hundred emigrants, and 
Plymouth one hundred and eighty, making in all rive hun- 
dred and eighty souls. Two hundred persons arrived from 
the north of Ireland about the same time, followed by ad- 
venturers from other places : these early emigrants laid the 
foundations of those beautiful townships which line the 
shores of the Bay of Fundy and Basin of Minas. 

His Majesty's ministers, soon after the removal of the 
French, expressed a wish that their cultivated lands should 
be reserved for military settlers; but Governor Lawrence, 
who had been bred to the profession of arms, and was well 
acquainted with the habits of soldiers, prevailed upon the 
Government to relinquish the design at that time. Law- 
rence's objections were, that besides their transportation, 
such settlers must be furnished with provisions for one year, 
with materials and tools for building, implements of hus- 



273 ACADIA 

banclry, and cattle to stock their lands; for soldiers, who 
have nothing of their own to set out with, will necessarily 
be in want of everything at the beginning. According to 
his ideas of the military,- they are the least qualified, from 
their occupation as soldiers, of any class of men to estab- 
lish a new country, where they must encounter difficulties 
with which they are altogether unacquainted. He further 
asserted that every soldier that had come into that Prov- 
ince had either quitted it or become a dramseller. 

These remonstrances had the desired effect, and those 
valuable reserves were thrown open to an industrious 
class, whcse occupation had always been the cultivation of 
the soil. The great distance of Nova Scotia from the New 
England colonies, the expense of moving families thither, 
the opposition of friends and fear of the Indians, tended 
greatly to check the tide of emigration to that Province, of 
which such glowing accounts had been given. However, on 
the 12th of December, 1760, Governor Belcher wrote the 
Board of Trade : " 1 have the satisfaction to acquaint your 
Lordships that the townships of Horton, Cornwallis and 
Falmouth, are so well established that everything bears a 
hopeful appearance; as soon as these townships were laid 
out by the surveyor, palisaded forts were erected in each of 
them, with room to secure all the inhabitants. After the 
necessary business, the proper season coming on, they were 
employed in gathering hay for the winter/' About this 
time they put some corn and roots into the ground. The 
late Governor "having made a progress into these settle- 
ments," after having regulated several matters, the repair of 
the dikes was his first care. For this purpose the inhabit- 
ants, with their cattle and carriages, at their own expense, 
were joined with some of the Provincial troops and Acadi- 
an s, who were best acquainted with works of this kind. 

The next public improvement was the making of a road 
from Halifax to these settlements. All the troops that 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 279 

could be spared from duty were employed on this work. — • 
The passage between these points was very difficult at that 
time, on account of dense swamps and broken bridges.* 
The greater part of the expense attending the labor, wrote 
Governor Belcher, will be defrayed ** out of a sum of money 
appropriated from a seizure of molasses." 

Many of the people were in good circumstances, having 
transported themselves and their effects at their own ex- 
pense ; as for the poorer class, there was provision made for 
them until the following August. In the township of Liv- 
ery, ool, says the Governor, "they are now employed in 
bunding three vessels for the fishery, have laid in hay for 
the winter fodder of their cattle, and have raised a consid- 
erable quantity of roots, and erected a grist and saw mill. 
They have sixteen sail of fishing schooners, and although 
some of them came late in the season, they have cured near 
five hundred quintals of fish. In regard to the townships 
of Granville and Annapolis, about thirty proprietors are set- 
tled in each ; as they came late in the year, they did not 
bring all then families, but are preparing against then- ar- 
rival in the spring The perfect establishment of 

the settlements depends, in a very great degree, in the re- 
pairs of the dikes, for the security of the marsh lands, from 
whence the support of the inhabitants will become easy and 



*Dr. M'C-regor, one of the early Presbyterian preachers sent over from 
Scotland into this Province, thus describes one of these bridges : '*Over 
an upright pier, on each side of the river, were laid three long logs, at 
least forty-five feet long, so as to extend fifteen feet beyond the pier on 
the river, the other eiid extending thirty feei on the land, and having 
heavy logs laid across them near the end, to overbalance any weight that 
might be on the bridge. The long logs are called bmments. Three oth- 
er logs were laid with their ends resting on the 'inner ends of the but- 
ments, fifteen feet from the piers, filling the interval space. The round 
of the upper surface of the log was hewn away by the ax, and thus the 
bridge was finished with nine long logs. Spans of ninety or one hiui- 
dred feet ^r? made in this way. " 



280 



ACADIA 



plentiful. I humbly conceive that the dikes may be pu t inter 
very good condition if y with your Lordship's approbation,, 
one hundred of the French inhabitants may be employed in 
different parts of the Province to assist and instruct in their 
repairs, the new settlers having come from a country in 
in which such works are not needed." - 

In the summer of 1761, thirty families from the Province 
of Massachusetts landed in Onslow, at the head of Cobe- 
quid Bay. They brought with them twenty head of horned 
cattle, eight horses and seventy sheep ;. but their stock of 
provisions was altogether inadequate to their wants, and was 
consumed in six months. From this circumstance they were 
reduced to great privations. During the second year the 
government supplied them with Indian corn, and they add- 
ed to their food supply by fi?hing and hunting. On their 
arrival they found the country laid waste to prevent the re- 
turn of the Acadians, but five hundred and seventy acres oi 
marsh land were still under dike ; and about forty acres of 
upland around the ruined houses r which were partially over- 
grown with shrubs, were cleared. Bemains of the French 
roads, which were confined to the marshes, are visible to 
this day. Near the sites of their buildings are found farm- 
ing implements and kitchen utensils, which they had buried 
in the earth under the hope of being permitted some day 
to return to their possessions. 

At this time New Brunswick was included in Nova Scotia, 
and denominated the County of Sunbury. The extreme 
fertility of the intervales of New Brunswick had attracted 
the attention of the British officers who had been stationed 
in the country. Some of them procured extensive grants of 
territory; among them General Gage, a large tract at the 
head of the Long Beach, St. John Biver ; Col. Spry, a large 
grant near Jemseg ; Col. Maugers, a grant at Mangers 
Island; and Major Dight secured title to five thousand acres 
since known as the Ten Lots in Sheffield. It was unfortun- 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 281 

ately the case then as now, that favorites of those in power, 
and moneyed speculators, secure monopolies to the detri' 
ment of the masses and the consequent hindrance of nation- 
al prosperity. 

In 1763, the firm of Simons, Hazen & White, established 
themselves at St. John Harbor, and a Scotchman named 
John Anderson selected the flat of Frederickton for his farm 
and trading post. Several families from the Parishes of 
Rowley, And over and Boxford, near Boston, emigrated to 
the River St. John during that and the following season, in 
a couple of packet sloops, of about forty tons burden each, 
and commanded by Captains Newman and Howe. The for- 
mer came first with the emigrants, and the latter became an 
annual trader to the River, his sloop being the only means 
of communication between the pilgrims and their native 
land. 

There were small, detached French villages located, at 
that time, in the rich intervale ; but the uncongeniality of 
their English neighbors, no doubt, was the cause of their 
migrating farther into the wilderness. The New Eng and 
settlers commenced clearing the soil and preparing for the 
first crop ; they were delighted with the rapid growth aud 
favorable prospect, when an early frost put an end to their 
hopes for that year. Before relief arrived, the next season, 
they suffered much for want of food. 

These emigrants had taken the precaution to obtain a 
grant of land from the Government at Halifax, securing 
five hundred acres to each man of a family. They were de- 
sirous of settling near together, and each sharing in the rich 
intervale on the river bank; they therefore laid out their 
lots ten chains in width, and extending back live hundred 
and fifty chains [nearly seven miles], making eight farms to 
a rune in breadth on the river.* 



* Hatiieway. 



282 ACADIA 

The resettlement of the country under English patron- 
age continued very slow until the outbreak of the devo- 
lution, when the population was augmented by the arrival 
of Tory refugees from the revolting colonies, styled in the 
Canadian Provinces "United Empire Loyalists;" who, to 
the number of twenty thousand, with their effects, sought 
here a home. Many of these were amoDg the "first fami- 
lies " in the country from whence they had fled, and proved 
a valuable accession to the Province, by elevating the socisJ 
standing of the community, and adding a valuable element 
to the industrial population. 

Scarce twenty years agone, we saw a whole people of 
French descent violently expatriated from this soil by the 
joint efforts of native and colonial Britons, on the asserted 
ground of the inimical tendencies of their bigoted religion 
and Papist priesthood. Now we behold a violent rupture 
between the English colonies and their mother country, and 
between the colonists themselves ; and some of the latter, 
in their turn expatriated, are forced to seek an asylum in 
the land from which they had helped to drive away the 
French. 

The strange perversities of the human mind, and the 
marked effect that self-interest exerts over one's opinions 
and prejudices, were never more apparent than as exhib- 
ited in the march of the events of which we write. When 
an excuse was wanting to drive the French from their ter- 
ritory in America, the British Ministry, the Council at Hal- 
ifax, and the Colonial Governments, each openly denounced 
that people as "equally cruel and perfidious as their savage 
allies. 1 ' In 1774, both England and the colonies were anx- 
ious to secure the services of the French Catholics of Can- 
ada in the conflict then impending between them. The 
British Ministry restored to them their ancient civil pro- 
cedure, together with the full ecclesiastical jurisdiction per- 
taining to the Papist priesthood: this was done with the 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 283 

view of conciliating the priests, and by that' means win over 
the common people to their interests. On the other hand, 
although a law was at that time on the statute-book of 
Khode Island, making it a penal offence for a Eoman Cath- 
olic to set foot ou her soii, the colonies sent a message to 
their neighbors of Canada, in which they said; "We are coo 
well acquainted with the liberality of sentiment distinguish- 
ing your nation, to imagine that difference of religion will 
prejudice you agaiust a hearty amity with us/' * 

Count d'Estaing, of the cooperating French fleet cruising 
on the American seaboard in 1778, vainly tried to influence 
his Canadian fellow-countrymen, by calling to remembrance 
the natural ties which bound them to the race they sprang 
from. The reproachful saying of Lafayette to the Cana- 
dian officers imprisoned at Boston for taking up arms in the 
royalist cause, is a matter of history : "What! you elect 
to fight, in order to maintain your subordination as colo- 
nists, instead of accepting and vindicating the independence 
which has been offered you ! Remain then, ever the slaves 
ye now are ! " The British Ministry proved themselves the 
better diplomatists,and, by granting privileges to the French 
Catholic element, greatly to the prejudice of the English 
Protestant population, who were of less importance to 
Great Britain in point of numbers, permanently secured to 
the Crown of England the powerful dominion of Canada. 



*The following, from the "Laws and Eesolves of Massachusetts Bay," 
is appropos to the subject. The paper bears date of December 12, 1695 ; 
after a preamble showing that the law was intended to abate a "grievous 
inconvenience." and as a measure of "public safety," it reads: "Be it 
enacted .... That from and after the second day of January next en- 
6r.ing, none of the French nation be permitted to reside or be in any of 
the seaport or frontier towns in this province, but such as shall be licensed 
by the Governor and Council; nor shall any cf said nation keep shop, or 
exercise any manual trade in any of the towns of this Province, without 
the approbation of the Selectmen, on pain of imprisonment, and to re- 
main in prison until released by order of Governor and Council." 



284 ACADIA 

Throughout the Canadian Provinces, as in the revolted 
colonies, sentiment was divided as regarded allegiance to 
Great Britain. The young colony of Massachusetts emi- 
grants on the banks of the St. John endorsed the action of 
the Whigs, and set on foot a campaign and siege against 
their English neighbors of Fort Cumberland, who, it ap- 
pears, had as heartily espoused the cause of George the 
Third. The historian Hatheway thus describes what he is 
pleased to term the "quixotic " campaign against Fort Cum- 
berland : — 

"Without artillery, without a commissioned officer at 
their head, or an ordinary knowledge of such an undertak- 
ing, they commenced their march, while the greater part of 
their company were as ignorant of the nature of such an 
undertaking as they were of the justice of it. They at 
length arrived in the neighborhood of the fort, and soon 
made known the nature of their visit by a bold demand of 
an immediate surrender; and having contrived to forward 
an exaggerated account of their numerical strength and 
resources, they caused the garrison to close their gates and 
prepare for the siege or assault, notwithstanding the effec- 
tive troops of the fort were more than double the number 
of the besiegers. Unfortunately at this juncture a vessel 
had arrived off the fort, loaded with provisions for the 
troops. A sergeant with a few men had gone on board as 
a guard until time and tide should favor the unloading. — 
Our invading heroes now conceived the bold design (since 
there seemed little prospect of carrying the fort) of captur- 
es this vessel. They accordingly, when the tide had run 
out of the harbor and left the vessel sitting on the mud flat, 
inarched alongside of her in a dark night, ordered a ladder 
to be let down to help them on board, threatening to burn 
them in case of resistance. This order was obeyed and 
they took their prize without opposition. Had one shot 
been hired, the fort would have taken the alarm and recap- 



"ENGLISH OCCUPATION 285 

tured her the next morning, instead of having the chagrin 
to see her sail away next day a prize to the foe, without a 
•cruiser on the coast to pursue her. This vessel was taken 
to Machias and sold by the captors, who it is presumed made 
a fair dividend of the prize money," 

The same authority says : "At the conclusion of the peace 
•of 1783, there was a great influx of emigrants to this Prov- 
ince, chiefly of the American Loyalists, disbanded soldiers and 
officers, nearly all of whom drew land from the government. 
Some remained and occupied their lands during the two 
years in which the government allowed them rations ; others 
left and returned to the United States, and some continued 
permanent and useful settlers. This gave a new impulse to 
the infant colony, enhanced the value of property of ail de- 
scriptions, made a ready and sure market for a surplus prod- 
uce, and caused money to circulate and capitalists to under- 
take business. But a disbanded soldiery seldom makes the 
best settlers. Too much of the dissipated customs of the 
army, with the usual attendant intemperance, proved for & 
time a great drawback and hindrance to those benefits which 
might otherwise have resulted from the change." 

The Province of New Brunswick had been erected, and 
was so named in honor of the Duke of Brunswick, one ol 
the petty German princes, from whom England had en- 
gaged the sixteen thousand Hessian troops which she em- 
ployed in the War of the Bevolution. Three thousand per- 
sons from Nantucket arrived at the River St. John in the 
spring succeeding the declaration of peace. Many of these 
were men who served in the ranks of the Loyalists during 
the war ; twelve hundred more from the same place followed 
during the autumn of the same year. The sufferings ol 
these settlers are described as severe. They had previous- 
ly enjoyed all the comforts which a country subdued and 
cultivated by the endurance and industry of their forefath- 
ers afforded, and they were forced to encounter all the nor- 



286 ac Amu 

rors of an approaching winter, without houses to shelter 
them, amid the wilds of New Brunswick. Their sufferings 
have been described in a pamphlet published by a resident 
of the Province. He says the difficulties to which the first 
settlers were exposed, for a long time continued aVaost in- 
surmountable. On their arrival, they found a few hovels 
where St. John is now built, the adjacent country exhibit- 
ing a most desolate aspect, which was peculiarly discourag- 
ing to people who had just left their homes in the beautiful 
and cultivated parts of the United States. The country all 
about was a continued wilderness, uninhabited and untrod- 
den, except by savages and wild beasts ; and scarcely had 
they begun to construct their cabins, when they were sur- 
prised by the rigors of the untried climate, their habitations 
being enveloped in snow before they were tenable. The 
climate at that period, from some cause, was far more se- 
vere than at present, and they were frequently put to the 
greatest straits for food and clothing to preserve their ex- 
istence. A few roots were all that tender mothers could at 
times procure to allay the importunate calls of their children 
for food. Sir Guy Carleton had ordered their provisions at 
the expense of the government, for the first year ; but, as the 
country was little cultivated at that time, food could scarce- 
ly be procured on any terms. Frequently had these settlers 
to go from fifty to one hundred miles with hand-sleds or 
toboggans, through wild woods or on the ice, forced to sleep 
in the open air, and make their way on snow-shoes, to pro- 
cure a supply for their famishing families. The privations 
and sufferings of these people almost exceeded belief. The 
want of food and clothing in a wild country was not easily 
supplied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter, some 
of the family were obliged to remain up at night to keep fire 
in their huts to protect the others from freezing, feonie of 
the more destitute families made use of boards to supply 
the want of bedding. Many of these Loyalists were in the 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 287 

prime of life when they emigrated into the country, and 
most of them had young families. To establish these, they 
were out their lives in toil and poverty, and by their unre- 
mitting exertions subdued the wilderness, and covered the 
face of the country with habitations, villages, and towns. 

Among the early settlers of St. John after the close of the 
war, was the notorious Benedict Arnold and family. He 
seems to have been haled even in St. John; and many local 
instances of meanness are yet told of him while a resident 
there. Arnold engaged in trade and navigation, and owned 
the first vessel built in St. John. He obtained it of the 
builder, who was unable to procure the necessary sails and 
rigging, and who unfortunately came into Arnold's power, 
by fraud. He lived in a house built by himself at the cor- 
ner of King and Canterbury Streets; his store was in an- 
other quarter, near the corner of Main and Charlotte Streets : 
he dealt iu ship-furnishing goods. 

When Benedict Arnold returned to England he was the 
father of seven children. His first wife bore him Benedict, 
Bichard and Henry. The elder was an officer of artillery 
in British service, and died young while stationed in the 
West Indies. The children by his second marriage were 
James, Edward, George and Sophia. James was tue only 
one born in the United States, and was a child at the time 
of Arnold's treason ; he entered the British army and rose 
to the rank of Colonel of Engineers. He was stationed at 
Bermuda for awhile, then was transferred to Halifax, where 
he was in command of the engineers of New Brunswick 
and Nova Scotia. During this period he visited St. John, 
and on going into the house built by his father in King 
Street, wept like a child. He married a Miss Goodrich of 
the Is A e of AYight. 

Benedict Arnold and sister Hannah were the only ones 
left of a family of six cniidren at the time of the Be volution; 
she adhered to him through ail his guilty career. She is 



288 ACAUM 

said to have possessed excellent qualities of character, and 
died at Montague,. Province of Quebec, in 1803. Arnold 
died in London in 1801 y and Margaret, his widow, died m 
the same city three years afterwards, at the age of forty- 
three. 

Miss Margaret Shippen, afterward Mrs. Benedict Arnold, 
it will be recollected, was at the time of the British occupa- 
tion of Philadelphia, 1877, one of the reigning belles of that 
city, and a great favorite with the British officers. The 
young and brilliant Major Andre, by his podsbed mauners,. 
and superior address,, had attracted her admiration, with 
whom she soon came to be on intimate terms. After the 
English withdrew, it was then she became acquainted with 
Benedict Arnold, with whom she afterward contracted mar- 
riage. Van Shaack r a New York Loyalist, relates being at 
Westminster Abbey some years after the war. While there 
he saw Benedict Arnold, and a lady with him he supposed 
to be his wife. The two stood before the cenotaph of An- 
dre, deliberately perusing the monumental inscription of 
the tale of his own infamy. What Arnold's thoughts were, 
when his act of treachery came up before him,, or hers, at 
this reminder of the untimely end of her former lover, can 
be only surmised. Van Shaack relates that he turned from 
the scene in disgust. 

The town of Shelburne, on an inlet on the south eastern 
coast of Nova Scotia, is noticeable to the student of Ameri- 
can history, from its having been the residence of Beverly 
Robinson, with whom Arnold was quartered at the time he 
was negotiating the surrender of West Point, and whose 
former dwelling yet stands among the mountains of Putnam 
County, N. Y., within view of the ruined fortifications of 
Fort Putnam. After the surrender of Cornwadis, a hun- 
dred and twenty Loyaiists from New York, heads of fami- 
lies, associated themselves for the purpose of emigrating to 
J^ova Scotia. The number was subsequently increased to 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 289 

four hundred and seventy-one heads of families, who were 
divided into sixteen companies with a captain and two lieu- 
tenants appointed for each. The several companies were 
each provided with one transport for its conveyance, two 
for the removal of its heavy baggage, and a schooner to car- 
ry horses. The associates were furnished with forty pieces 
of cannon and a proportionate quantity of ammunition and 
military stores, and were accompanied by a commissary, en- 
gineer and a number of carpenters, who were supplied with 
all kinds of tools and implements necessary for the forma- 
tion of a settlement upon a large scale. Previous to their 
departure a Board was constituted, of which Beverly Rob- 
inson, Esq., was appointed President, whose duty it was to 
apportion a pecuniary donation of Government among the 
most meritorious of the settlers. 

The associates and their families sailed from New York 
harbor on the 27th of April, 1783, in a fleet of eighteen 
square-rigged vessels, and several sloops and schooners, 
supported by two ships of war. Choosing a situation, a 
town was laid out, consisting of five parallel streets, sixty 
feet wide, intersected by others at right angles. Temporary 
huts were erected for the families, and the ground cleared 
away for the site of the town. The Roseway River swarmed 
with salmon and gaspereau, and the harbor was filled with 
cod, halibut, lobster and shell-fish. In July the erection of 
substantial houses was commenced. The following month 
Governor Parr visited the place and conferred upon it a 
name by drinking prosperity to the town of Shelburne. A 
complete inundation of fleeing Loyalists poured into the 
half-built town during the autumn, and the limits of the 
growing city had to be enlarged. "Within a year the popu- 
lation of Sherburne reached twelve or fourteen thousand. 
But the town had no back country to supply and be en- 
riched by ; and the colonists, mostly of the wealthier class 
from the cities, would not engage in the fisheries. The 



290 ACADIA 

money they had brought from iheir old homes was at length 
exhausted, and then Shelbarne declined with a rapidity as 
remarkable as its growth had been. Many of the people 
returned to the United States, and others removed to vari- 
ous parts of the Province: the population soon dwindled 
to to or hundred souls. Within two years over $2,500,000 
were sunk in the founding of Shelburne. It was recently 
described as the site of a fe.v large storehouses, with de- 
cayed timbers and crumbling window frames, standing near 
the wharves, with piles of stone and grass plats marking 
where the streets had been. 

Notwithstanding the coldness of the climate of Nova Sco- 
tia, numbers of the colored lace have emigrated to its shores, 
the descendants of whom still abide on its soil. Here they 
retain, with a lew exceptions, the proverbial improvidence 
of their race. Nearly twelve hundred blacks were trans- 
ported from this Province to Sierra Leone in 1792, by sanc- 
tion of the British government. Shortly after their remov- 
al, six hundred Maroons, from the Island of Jamaica, were 
conveyed to Halifax, with the view of making them perma- 
nent residents. The history of this singular people is so 
full of interest, that a brief sketch of them cannot be out of 
place here. 

In 1655, when Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards, fif- 
teen hundred of their enslaved Africans took refuge in the 
mountains of the island. In these retreats they, for upward 
of forty years, mainly subsisted by frequent incursions into 
the settlements of the English in the lowlands. Their num- 
bers continued to swell by natural increase, and by rein- 
forcements of fugitive slaves; and they finally became so 
formidable, under an able leader named Cudjce, that, in 
1738, military force was resorted to for their subjugation. 
A pacification was fortunately entered into with them, and 
thus was terminated a contest which seemed to portend the 
ruin of the whole colony. 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 291 

Id 1795, the Maroons again appeared in arms, and swooped 
down from their mountain fastnesses, carrying destruction 
and alarm all over the island. They established their head- 
quarters at a place called the " Cockpit," a deep valley sur- 
rounded by steep precipices and mountains of a prodigious 
bight, in the caves of which they had placed their women 
and children, aud deposited their ammunition. From this 
secure retreat, they sent out small parties of their ablest 
young men, who prowled about the country, gathering up 
provisions, and applying the midnight torch to unprotected 
dwellings, and murdering in cold blood, such of the white 
people as came into their hands, without regard to age or 
sex. The Earl of Belcarras and General Walpole proceed- 
ed against them with a body of troops, but so great were 
the difficulties encountered, that they nearly despaired of 
subjugating this people. The Cockpit; could be reached on- 
ly by a path down a steep rock, one hundred and fifty feet 
in almost perpendicular descent. This obstacle the Ma- 
roons surmounted without difficulty. Habituated to em- 
ploy their naked feet with singular effect in climbing up 
trees and precipices, they had acquired a dexterity, which, 
to the British troops, was wholly inimitable. The great 
lack of the Maroons in this impregnable retreat, was a full 
supply of water. For a time their thirst was assuaged by a 
substitute for natural springs furnished by a species of pine 
growing in the pit; this finally failed them, but it is not 
known what the issue might have been, had not an unusual 
and cruel measure been resorted to by way of enforcing sub- 
jugation. 

The British Commissioners who went to Havanna for as- 
sistance, arrived at Montego Bay with forty Chasseurs, or 
Spanish hunters, (chiefly people of color,) and one hundred 
and twenty Spanish dogs. A great proportion of these an- 
imais were not regularly trained, so that the fugitives whom 
they oveitook had no chance to escape being torn in pieces 



292 ACADIA 

by them. These Spanish Chasseurs had bound themselves 
" to go to the Island of Jamaica, taking each three do^s for 
the hunting and seizing of negroes ; that when arrived, and 
informed of the situation of the runaway or rebellious ne- 
groes, we oblige ourselves to practice every means that may 
be necessary to pursue, and to apprehend with our dogs, 
said rebellious negroes." Thus the authorities may be said 
literally to have let loose "the dogs of war " against the pro- 
scribed Maroons. 

This harsh measure had the effect of bringing about a 
truce : terrified and humbled, the insurgents sued for peace ; 
six hundred of the Trelawney Maroons were put on board 
three transports at Biuefields, in Jamaica, and in six weeks 
were safely landed in Halifax. They had been provided with 
all manner of necessities and accommodations at sea, and 
provision made for their subsistence after reaching land: 
the sum of £25,000 had been furnished by the Jamaica Leg- 
islature for the purpose. 

On then* arrival at Halifax Harbor, his Highness, Prince 
Edward, then in the country, was greatly anxious to see a 
people who had for months successfully resisted a greatly 
superior force of British troops. The Prince, on going on 
board the Dover, found a detachment of British Regulars 
drawn up on the quarter-deck, their arms rested and music 
playing. The Maroon men, in a uniform dress, were ar- 
ranged in lines on each side the whole length of the ship, 
and the women and children forward, dressed clean ant< 
neat. Accustomed to view lines of men with a very dis- 
criminating eye, the just proportions of their limbs did not 
escape the notice of the Prince. 

It being midsummer, temporary houses were erected, 
and others hired for them, and the Governor allotted th3 
barns of his farm for the same purpose. They were em- 
ployed on the fortifications of Halifax : the Maroon Bastion 
was erected and designated a monument of their active in- 






TSHGLISH OCCUPATION 293 

dustry. In :a word, this dreadful banditti were considered 
a great acquisition to the country. It was not long before 
ithis people showed signs of discontent; those who were in- 
strumental in their transportation began to have fears they 
might have made <& mistake; in 1800 they were reembarked 
at Halifax, and sent to Sierra Leone. Thus ended the set- 
tlement of Maroons in Nova Scotia, after an expenditure of 
.£46,000 on the part of the Island of Jamaica, and a very 
great outlay by Great Britain, 

At the conclusion of the war of 1812, a large body of es- 
caped slaves were permitted to take refuge on board the 
Biitish squadron, blockading the Chesapeake and southern 
harbors, and were afterwards landed at Halifax, They had 
imbibed the theory that liberty consisted in total exemption 
from labor; and unaccustomed to provide for their own 
wants, they eked out an existence by cultivating small gar- 
dens through the summer, and subsisting on rations allowed 
them by government during the winter. In the neighbor- 
hood of Halifax are settlements composed wholly of blacks, 
who experience during the rigorous season all the misery 
incident to improvidence. The following is a pen picture: 

"In a few minutes we saw a big house perched on a bone 
of granite, and presently another cabin came in view. Then 
other scare-crow edifices wheeled in sight as we drove along ; 
all forlorn, all patched with mud, all perched on barren 
knolls, high up, like ragged redoubts of poverty, armed at 
every window with a formidable artillery of old hats, rolls 
of rags, quilts, carpets, and indescribable bundles, or bar- 
ricaded with boards to keep out the sunshine. The people 
living here are descendants of escaped slaves from the Uni- 
ted States. They are a miserable lot; they won't work, 
and they shiver it out here as well as they can. But in the 
strawberry season they make a little money." 

In 1821, ninety of these people were conveyed by permis- 
sion of government, in chartered vessels, to Trinidad. 



294 ACADTA 

The traveler of the present day, seated in one of the com- 
fortable coaches of the Inter -colonial Railway en route for 
Halifax, on leaving Valley Station in the city of St. John, 
and passing rapidly out through Marsh Valley, will soon 
see the broad waters of Kennebecasis Bay opening on the 
left. The ever-changing and picturesque scenery of New 
Brunswick engages the attention of the tourist, and he speed- 
ily finds himself amid the pleasant rural scenes of the fa- 
mous farm-lands of Sussex Vale. This tract was settled by 
the military corps of New Jersey Loyalists, [mostly Ger- 
mans,] of Revolutionary fame y their descendants now oc- 
cupy the dwellings and till the lands donated to their fath- 
ers by the King of Great Britain. "Good roads, excellent 
crops, comfortable houses, commodious churches, well- 
taught schools, an intelligent and industrious people, all in 
the midst of scenery beautifully varied with hill and valley,, 
mountain and meadow, forest and flood," are among the 
characteristics ascribed to Sussex Vale. 

A ride of two hours more brings the traveler into the val- 
ley of the Petitcodiac River: the quaint houses and barns 
betoken the inhabitants to be of German origin ; history as- 
serts their ancestors were German Loyalists from Pennsyl- 
vania. The pretty village of Moncton is at the head of nav- 
igation on the Petitcodiac, and its name perpetuates the 
memory of one of the early conquerors of the country. The 
visitor must not omit to stop here, to see the great "bore," 
or tide- wave, of the Bay of Fundy. At the beginning of 
flood-tide a wall of water, from four to six feet high, sweeps 
up the river, and in the space of six hours the stream rises 
over seventy feet. 

The Halifax train runs out to the northeast from Monc- 
ton, but after a stretch of a few miles, deflects to the south- 
east into the Memramcook Valley. Here the tourist finds 
himself in the midst of rural farm scenes, peopled with a 
peasantry having the unmistakable impress of a French 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 295 

Catholic origin i he is told these are the descendants of the 
Acadian Neutrals, bearing the family names of LeBlanc, 
Melan^on, and others equally historic. — A walk of a few 
minutes in the leading streets of Boston or New York will 
reveal palaces of olive-colored sandstone, quarried from 
among the fir-clad mountains bordering the Memraincook 
River. 

At Sackville the train crosses the Tantramar River — a 
name corrupted from a French word signifying "a thunder- 
ing noise," and suggested by the noise and fury of the rush- 
ing tide ; thence the course is laid out on the wide Tantra- 
mar Marsh, the dread of winter travelers and the bane of 
railway managers, whose trains are often blockaded on these 
plains during the snow-storms of winter. To the north- 
east is Cape Tormentine, "the great headland which forms 
the eastern extremity of New Brunswick within the Gulf," 
a name likewise suggested by the fury of the relentless sea. 
It is from a point on thi3 Cape that the winter mail-service 
is conducted between New Brunswick and Prince Edward 
Island; where the mails, passengers and baggage are sub- 
jected to an exciting and perilous transit in ice-boats across 
the Northumberland Strait. 

These pretty hamlets, nestled in the picturesque valleys, 
now the abode of a contented and well-to-do people, sur- 
rounded with quiet, pastoral scenes, are in strong contrast 
with the deeds enacted there little more than a century ago, 
when the French Neutrals were hunted like wild beasts 
among these mountains, when the midnight sky was illu- 
mined by the flames of their burning dwellings, and neither 
age, sex, nor infirmity served to move the heart of the con- 
queror in compassion. 

The tract of country comprised in the townships of Tru- 
ro, Onslow, Londonderry, and Economy, is unsurpassed by 
any in the Province for richness of soil. The bay, washing 
its shores for upwards of sixty miles, is easily navigated.-*- 



296 ACADM 

On the opposite side of the Basin is the indenture marie by 
the Shubenacadie, with its fifty-feet flood-tide, its current of 
eight miles an hour and its-banks containing inexhausti- 
ble treasures of gypsum, limestone, and freestone. 

The first settlers of Truro r under British domination,, 
were from New Hampshire,, from a stock originally hailing- 
from Ireland. They comprised part of a volunteer force 
sent out by that colony - r having seen the country,, they were 
so well pleased that they returned with their families and 
settled as soon as they were disbanded. At first they lived 
under great terror of the Indians, and a stockaded fort was 
their resort at night for a long time. When they first came y 
they found two barns to be the only French buildings re- 
maining: this circumstance was the occasion of a part of 
the township being called "Old Barns,' 7 or "Barn Village." - 
Kemnants of French orchards are still to be found in the 
neighborhood. 

This part of the Province attracted the early French set- 
tlers in large numbers. Some idea of the former popula- 
tion of Londonderry may be formed by the size of the Cath- 
olic chapel, which was one hundred feet long and forty feet 
wide. This spacious building, together with the dwelling 
houses, was destroyed by the Provincial troops on the dis- 
persion of the Acadians in 1755. 

The rich dike land bordering the Biver Misseguash, and 
the border line between the Provinces of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick, is occupied by the descendants of the Aca- 
dians, New England emigrants, and the posterity of a few 
families from the north of Ireland. Here stood the two 
rival forts of Beausejour and Lawrence, separated by the 
little scream. Many traditional anecdotes of the siege of 
the former fort have been banded down to the present gen- 
eration. It is said that while preparations were making for 
the attack, parties of the Frenea and English would meet at 
the river and indulge in some good-natured banter as to the 




SAMBRO LIGHT— Entrance to Halifax Harbor. 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 297 

probable result of the conflict, each being alike confident of 
success; they made exchange of bullets, and exacted prom- 
ises of their faithful return from the mouths of their mus- 
kets. The descendants of those engaged in that memora- 
ble siege now dwell side by side in perfect amity, under the 
prorection of the same government. 

Not far away is the town of Minudie, settled by Acadi- 
ans, the greater part of whom escaped the hands of Capt. 
Murray at Windsor at the forced French extirpation, and 
found means to remove thither. Here they found the wives 
and children of many of their fellow countrymen, deprived 
of their natural protectors by the ruthless decree of a rival 
military power, and destitute of food, clothing and shelter. 
This little community preserve a remarkable attachment to 
their language, customs and religion; the dike land around 
which they are settled contains three thousand rich alluvial 
acres, the houses being scattered along its outer margin for 
fifteen miles. Great quantities of shad are taken heie, in 
weirs erected upon the fiats, which are exposed at low wa- 
ter, not only supplying tiie wants of the inhabitants, but 
furnishing an article of export. At a place called the South 
Joggin, in this neighborhood, are situated extensive and val- 
uable quarries of grindstone.* From the bleak and north- 
west exposure of these settlements, they are at the mercy of 
the winters' storms. 

On the summit of the Cobequid Mountains, between the 
Cumberland and Minas Basins, surrounded by an extensive 
tract of woodland, on the post-road between Halifax and 



*To avoid removing the superincumbent earth, the stones are 
dug as nearly as possible at low water-mark, where the tides have left 
them exposeu to view. But as the combined action of the sea and frost 
naturally affects the upper strata, the best kind has to be sjught for be- 
low the surface. In cutting the stones the workmeu frequently meet 
rounded nodules called "bull's eyes," a defect which renders them unlit 
for use. 

8* 



298 ACADIA 

Canada, is the settlement of Westchester, peopled by a col- 
ony of Loyalists from Westchester, iNew York. It is said 
they were attracted thither by the similarity of the country 
to that from which they emigrated. This selection was in- 
judicious: from the exposed situation of the top of the Co- 
bequid Mountains, they are enveloped in immense fails of 
snow in winter, and inconvenienced by heavy falls of rain 
in summer. 

A grant of six thousand acres on the southern coast of 
the Gut of Causo, w T as made about the year 1786 to a com- 
pany of fifty Loyalists, who had joined the British troops 
at St. Augustine, and embarked with them for this Prov- 
ince. They were landed at the Gut late in the autumn, and 
suffered terribly from the unexpected severity of the win- 
ter. The difference between raising indigo and tobacco on 
the natural savannahs of Florida, and raising potatoes on 
soii from which they had first to remove the Nova Scotian 
forest, was so great as to discourage them ; the adjoining 
fisheries promising a less laborious means of support, they 
were induced to embark to a great extent in maritime pur- 
suits. 

Windsor, on the river Avon,* is a place of interest from 
the fact that it is the principal port from which gypsum is 
shipped, a fertilizer held in high esteem by the farmers of 



*Tlie tourist who passes from Grand Pre to Windsor during the >iours 
of low tide, will sympathize with the traveler who says, "the Avon would 
have been a charming river if there had been a drop of water in it. I 
never knew before how much water adds to a river. I think it would be 
confusing to dwell by a river that runs first one way and then the other, 
and then vanishes altogether." Another description runs thus: "The 
tide was out, leaving the red river-bottom entirely bare. After an ab- 
sence of an hour or more, I loitered back, when to my surprise there v/aa 
a river like the Hudson at Catskill, running up with a powerful current. 
The high wharf, upon which but a short time before I had stood and 
surveyed the unsightly fields of mud, was now up to its middle in the 
deep and whirling stream." 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 299 

the United States. This fossil crops out above the soil in 
many places in Windsor; on the northern side of the St. 
Croix it rises into a high, mural precipice for several miles. 
It is accompanied and sometimes intermingled with lime- 
stone, for which it has a strong affinity, the one being a car- 
bonate and the other a sulphate of lime. The ground in 
which it occurs is often much broken, abounding in circular 
cavities known in local parlance as "kettle holes," in which 
there have sometimes been found the bones of animals and 
the skeletons of Indians who had fallen into these caverns 
and could not extricate themselves. Gypsum is seldom 
found in an unbroken strata ; large veins of loam are scat- 
tered through the rocks, also red and frue clay with layers 
of lime. It is quarried by the aid of gunpowder, and brok- 
en into suitable sizes for exportation by the pick-axe. 

The township of Cornwaliis was settled by emigrants from 
Connecticut, who arrived in June, 1730, and took possession 
oi the lands formerly owned by the French Neutrals. They 
met with a few straggling families of these people, who had 
escaped from the soldiers at the time of the forced removal 
of their countrymen, and who, afraid of sharing the same 
fate, had not ventured to till the land, or to appear in the 
open country. The cleared lands everywhere skirted the 
meadows, and on all of them were found the ruins of the 
houses that had been burned by the Provincials under Col. 
Winslow five years before. Tnere were likewise small gar- 
dens encircled by cherry trees and currant bushes, and small 
orchard: or rather clumps of apple trees. Groups of wil- 
lows, u tuose never-failing appendages of an Acadian settle- 
ment," bore silent testimony of an exiled race. 

As the Indians were both numerous and unfriendly, and 
bo me feais entertained that the few remaining French would 
molest the new occupants of the confiscated farms, stock- 
aded houses were erected for the general defense. 

The township of Lunenburg was peopled by emigrants 



300 ACADIA 

from Germany, and is the oldest settlement, next to Hali- 
fax, formed under English patronage. In 1750, the Lords 
of Trade of Great Britain caused a proclamation to be post- 
ed up in the several populous towns of Germany, offering 
inducements to settle in Nova Scotia. That year one hun- 
dred and fifty Germans and Swiss were induced to sell their 
effects and embark for Halifax. The rocky coast, the inter- 
minable forest, and the sterility of the soil, impressed the 
adventurers unfavorably. By the year 1753, the number 
had been increased to upwards of sixteen hundred persons, 
when a new settlement was determined on, in a valley be- 
tween two round, green hills, at the head of a beautiful bay, 
to which they gave the name of Lunenburg. As the In- 
dians were very numerous, and exceedingly hostile, mur- 
dering every man who ventured alone into the woods, nine 
block-houses were built, and the settlement enclosed with a 
fence of palisades, or timbers sharpened at the points, and 
firmly set in the ground. 

While the hardships and dangers incident to their situa- 
tion had discouraged the settlers and soured their tempers, 
a report was industriously circulated among them that they 
had been defrauded of a large part of the provisions and 
stores destined for their use, through the dishonesty of 
some of the officials. As they had all been supplied with 
fire-arms, they resolved to redress their own grievances ; the 
civil authority was quickly overpowered, and nearly tho 
whole of the settlers were in a state of open rebellion. A 
strong military force was sent from Halifax to quell the in- 
subordination. Two of the ring-leaders having been shot, 
the insurgents submitted ; four hundred and fifty fire-locks 
were surrendered and deposited in the King's stores, and 
the people returned to their respective employments. In 
1754 supplies of cattle were received from the agents of the 
government, and the following year this stock was augment- 
ed by some of the confiscated property of the Acadians. 



•ENGLISH OCCUPATION 301 

After the expulsion of the latter from the territory, a party 
of men marched through the woods from Lunenburg to the 
Basin of Minas, and collected and drove off upwards of one 
hundred and twenty head of horned cattle, and a number 
-of horses. After infinite labor they only .succeeded in con- 
ducting to Lunenburg sixty oxeti and cows, but the rest of 
the cattle and all the horses died during the journey of fa- 
tigue and hunger. The inhabitants had been supplied with 
provisions at the public expense until June 1754, when the 
allowance was withheld, except from the aged and infirm. 
In consequence of the depredations of the savages, Gover- 
nor Lawrence offered a reward, by proclamation, of £30 for 
eveiy male Indian prisoner and £25 for his scalp, with a 
proportionate reward for each woman and <ihild, or scalp. 
The premiums were wholly unattainable by these foreign- 
ers, who were ignorant of the surrounding woods, and who, 
if they chanced to discover Indian traces, too often found, 
to their cost, that these tracks were made to lead them in- 
to ambush. This state of warfare continued to the peace 
of 1760, over a term of seven years, during which there was 
an increase in the population of only seven souls. From 
that time until the commencement of the Kevolution, Lu- 
nenburg steadily advanced in wealth and population ; but 
during that war it met with repeated reverses, by the cap- 
ture of its vessels and the plunder of the settlement. In Ju- 
ly, 1782, six sail of American privateers arrived at Lunen- 
burg, under command of Capt. Stoddard, and ninety men 
were landed and the place surprised. Having taken a block- 
house defended by Colonel Creighton with a loss of three 
men killed, the assailants plundered the town, burned sev- 
eral houses, and carried away or destroyed property to the 
value of £12,000. Upon threatening to burn the town, the 
inhabitants executed a bond for its ransom in the sum of 
£1,000. During the continuance of the war they were in 
constant dread of a similar visit. 



302 ACT4BXS 

With the war of 1812, Amer.can privateers were again ou 
the coast. The former wooden fortifications of Lunenburg 
having been suffered to decay, four new block-houses were 
erected. In June, 1813, two men-of-war were seen chasing 
an armed schooner into Mahone Bay. The alarm guns in 
the block-houses and outposts were immediately fired, and 
the militia of the country hastily assembled at the sum- 
mons. The movements of the vessels were carefully ob- 
served until sundown, when they came to anchor. Boats 
were then hoisted out of the ships and manned, and sent 
in pursuit of the schooner, but before they reached her a 
dreadful explosion took place, and an immense cloud of 
smoke was seen issuing from her ruins. Darkness now 
came on, and the people of Lunenburg lay upon their arms 
ail night, not knowing whether a friendly or a hostile force 
was in the harbor. The next day a boat arrived with six 
American prisoners, all dreadfully mutilated, most of whom 
were obliged to undergo some immediate amputation. The 
two ships of war were under English colors, and had chased 
the American privateer, Teaser, into the Bay. One of the 
officers of the privateer, who was an English deserter, know- 
ing the fate that awaited him if captured, and failing to in- 
spire the crew with his own feeling of desperate resistance, 
deliberately set fire to the magazine, killing ninety-four of 
the one hundred men on board of her, including himself. 

Students of American history will recollect the celebrated 
cavalry of Tarleton, the hero of Waxhaw, North Carolina, 
in the Revolution. This arm of the British service, known 
throughout the South as Tarleton's Legion, at the close of 
the war were pensioned for their services with a grant of 
land in Nova Scotia by King George III. They selected a 
site a the head of Mouton Harbor, on the southern coast 
of the Province at its western extremity, and began the 
foundation of a town which they called Guysboro, after the 
Chr stian name of the Governor of Canada, Sir Guy Carle- 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 303 

ton. They soon perceived they had selected injudiciously, 
the soil being stony and barren, with little in favor of the 
location except a good harbor. They had erected a few 
houses, still they determined on abandoning the place; 
while making preparations for removing their effects, a fire 
broke out, consuming the town to ashes; the measure of 
their calamities was filled up by the total loss of their live- 
stock, furniture and wearing apparel. A more complete de- 
struction than that which overtook the veterans of Waxhaw 
cannot well be imagined; and had not a King's ship been 
dispatched from Halifax with provisions for their reief, 
they must inevitably have perished from famine. Most of 
these sufferers by the conflagration removed to the eastern 
part of the Province, where they founded another settle- 
ment, naming that likewise, Guysboro. 

The township of Yarmouth, at the western extremity of 
Nova Scotia, contains no less than eighty lakes: to a bird 
Hying overhead it must seem like a patch-work of blue and 
green, in which the blue predominates. They are nearly all 
connected with the Tusket Eiver, and are generally small, 
irregular in shape, and surrounded with stunted timber. In 
the picturesque Argyle Bay adjoining are the beautiful 
groups of Tusket Isles; "Like most other collections of 
islands on this continent, they are popularly supposed to be 
365 in number, though they do not claim to possess an in- 
tercalary islet like that on Lake George [New York], which 
appears only every fourth year." The Tuskets vary in size 
from Morris Island, three miles in length, to the smallest 
tuft-crowned rock, resembling a little basket of evergreens, 
floating on the water. The scenery of Argyle Bay is ex- 
tremely beautiful of its kind : — cottages embowered in the 
forests of lir and spruce, and the masts of small fishing ves- 
sels peeping up from every little cove, with innumerable 
islands and peninsulas enclosing the blue sea in every di- 
rection; while beyond, amid the scenery of the Tusket 



304- ACADIJ 

Lakes, are the Blue Mountains, the paradise of the moose? 
and trout. 

Among these narrow passes, hundreds of Acadians took 
refuge during the persecutions of 1755-60,. and sever- 
al settlements were formed by them here- The remains of 
a flourishing one- existed up to a recent period at the head 
of the Chegoggin Marsh, and the apple trees r stone walls, 
and cellars on Chebogue River are said to be relics of the 
same people- But even the solitude and seclusion of this 
spot did not save them from the pursuit of their enemies- 
A British frigate was sent down to hunt them out. A small 
boat was dispatched at the mouth of the Tusket River, aud r 
guided by native pilots, ascended the stream and its chain 
of lakes, to invest this asylum. The invaders had advanced 
io within a mile of the village, and were arrived at a nar- 
row place where the river is contracted to twenty or thirty 
yards in width. Here the pass is overarched by the branch* 
es of the sombre pine, enveloping the stream in shade; un- 
der the umbrageous foliage, an ambuscade had been formed 
by the fugitives, and the unsuspecting crew, surprised un- 
der the very muzzle of their assailants'" guns, received a fa- 
tal discharge of musketry which destroyed the entire party. 
This sanguinary triumph only served to render the fate of 
the Acadians more certain, and they were at last compelled 
to fly. Some escaped to the woods and affiliated with the 
Indians, never afterward returning to the haunts or habits 
of the white man j but the greater part were captured, and 
transported with their families to New England. After 
many years they were permitted to return, and the Acadi- 
ans of Clare, Ee^ Brook, and Pubnico are chiefly the descend- 
ants of these people. 

In 1761, a few families from Massachusetts were attract- 
ed to Nova Scotia by the rich alluvial of Chebogue Marsh, 
and the valuable fisheries adjacent. The greater part of 
them settled at the head of the marsh, on the site of a 






ENGLISH OCCUPATION 305 

French village, and in mo?t instances they erected their 
houses on the cellars which had been dug by their prede- 
cessors. Having carried them to a state of completion af- 
fording a tolerable shelter, the new settlers essayed the seri- 
ous task of passing their first winter in the dreary and lone- 
ly spot of which they had taken possession. They had 
brought with them two horses, six oxen, and a number of 
cows and calves ; the horses they immediately sent back as 
useless incumbrances. Over half the cattle died of hunger 
and exposure, and the rest were killed for food. The win- 
ter was terrible in its severity ; snow lay on the ground four 
months to a depth of four feet. An accident having befall- 
en the vessel on which they were totally dependant for sup- 
plies, they were reduced to the most pitiable condition for 
want of provisions. For a long time they were without 
bread, potatoes, or any substitute; a few actually perished 
from want of suitable nutriment. Six families, terrified and 
disheartened, returned home by the first opportunity ; the 
remainder, being joined by other emigrants from the fish- 
ing towns of New England, effected a permanent settle- 
ment. 

THE ISLAND OF CAPE BRETON. 

The Island of Cape Breton, formerly denominated by its 
French masters, L'Isle Royal, has been termed the key to 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from the fact that it commands 
all access from the Atlantic, except by the circuitous route 
of the straits of Bellisle, round the northern extremity of 
Newfoundland. Nearly one third of tjae superficial area of 
the island is covered with water, being divided into two nat- 
ural though continuous divisions by the Great and Little 
Bras d'Or Channels, and the inland sea known as Bras d'Or 
Lake. The land is well adapted to cultivation, and the tim- 
ber is of good size except near the margin of the cliffs, 



306 ACEDIA 

where is usually a growth of spruce and other evergreens, 
ail inclining landwards from the fury of the Atlantic storms. 
The beauty of the bays, the densely wooded shores, the rich 
veins of coal, limestone, and gypsum cropping out aiong 
the coast of these inland waters, gives them a just title to 
the u Arm of Gold." It is said that in some localities gyp- 
sum may be quarried from the cliffs, broken up and thrown 
directly on the vessel moored at the base ; and in others, 
as North Sydney, coal is delivered from the mines by let- 
ting it fall directly from the rail cars into the vessel's hold. 

Communication between the different towns is easily 
carried on by sailing vessels, no part of the island being 
more than ten miles from navigation, yet containing about 
the same area as New Hampshire. 

The Gut of Canso,* the thoroughfare of all the trade to 
and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, separating the Island of 
Cape Breton from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, is about 
fifteen miles long, and one mile wide. The scenery of this 
strait is spoken of by travelers as surpassing anything else 
of the kind in America, and it has been poetically styled the 
"Golden Gate of the St. Lawrence Gulf." There is a very 
strong current here. The tide seldom runs at a less rate 
than from four to five miles an hour, but no tabulated cal- 
endar of the Canso tides can be made on account of the great 
influence of winds upon them. It is not unusual for the 
stream of the strait to run one way for several days in suc- 
cession. A southerly gale, by accelerating the ebb of the 
St. Lawrence, causes the water to flow through towards the 
Gulf ; while a northwest wind will force a current into the 
Atlantic until the level of the water is restored. 

Cape Breton was settled by Scotch and Irish emigrants? 
French Acadian s, and a number of Loyalists from the Unit- 



*From the Spanish word Ganso, signifying a goose, a name given to 
it on account of the immense numbers of geese formerly found there. 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 307 

ed States. Over twenty-five thousand Scotch emigrants 
have settled on this island, and it will probably ever be a 
Scottish land. After the dispersion of the Highland clans 
and the final pacification of Northern Scotland, the chief- 
tains and nobles found it more profitable to devote their es- 
tates to cattle-raising, than to maintain the old tenantry 
system. So thousands of poor tenant farmers were expelled 
from their ancient homes to make room for deer-parks and 
sheep-farms among the glens. Driven from their holdings, 
the poor Highlanders took refuge in the New World, thou- 
sands of miles from their early associations and the church- 
yard where lay the bones of their fathers ; on a foreign shove, 
amid strange scenes they built new homes, and have become 
a well-to-do people. The selfish policy of the powerful no- 
bles depopulated whole districts of the Highlands. 

The northern part of the islaud is mountainous, and the 
shores bleak and inhospitable. The northeast storms of 
November and December hurry ma ay a vessel on to this' 
rocky coast, where, if the crew effect a landing, they wan- 
der in ignorance of the course to be taken until their limbs 
are frozen, and the only records left of their distress are 
their bones whiteniDg on the shore. Sometimes they reach 
the settlements to the southward, only with the loss of their 
hands or feet from frost bite. 

The shore from Cape St. Lawrence to Cape North, the 
two northern extremities of the island, present perpendicu- 
lar cliffs which descend into the sea without a beach bor- 
der, against which the sea dashes with terrific violence. — 
Some of the mountains exceed twelve hundred feet in hight, 
on which the ice and snow of winter form glaciers, whose 
debris is often seen in the valleys. Ten miles to seaward 
from Cape North lies the fatal St. Paul, a barren and rocky 
isle, whose grim, precipitous shores have been the unmarked 
grave of thousands. Washing among its rocks are to be 
seen the bones of its victims, and numbers of massive an- 



308 ACADIA 

chors He around, under the water, the only remaining ves- 
tiges of ships there dashed to pieces. Thus placed in the 
great entrance of the Gulf, where perplexing fogs and vari- 
able currents conspire to hurry the unsuspecting mariner 
agaiust the rocks, " the fatal shock at once precipitates ship, 
crew, and cargo, to the depths below." The Acadians of 
Cheticamp used to visit St. Paul Island every spring, to se- 
cure the valuable part of cargoes which the sea threw up on 
its shores. 

To the south and east of Cape North, that " watchtower 
of the Gulf, beneath the brow of which all must pass that 
approach or depart from the great St. Lawrence," is Aspy 
Bay. The settlers here are gathered around the laguues, 
or as they call them, barrasois. These people are farmer- 
fishermen. Their farms extend along the rivers and sur- 
round the head of the bay. Here the northeast storms of 
the Atlantic have swept up a fine sand, forming a beautiful 
beach. Coins, to a large amount, are thrown up from the 
ocean, — the cargo of some vessel with specie foundered there. 

The rivers flowing into the Bras d'Or are, in general, 
streams of one hundred feet in width, and peculiarly errat- 
ic in their course. They are usually obstructed at their 
mouths by low marshy islands, overhung with the dark fo- 
liage of the hemlock and spruce. The water is wont to be 
sluggish, the surface disfigured by huge roots and branches 
of fallen trees, brought down by the spring freshets, and 
there water-logged and sunk, to the no small peril, in a 
dark night, of the frail birch -bark canoes of the Indians. 
Bemains of gigantic animals are found in the vicinity of the 
Bras d'Or. Thigh bones six feet in length have been dis- 
covered in the bottom of the lake. In the bed of a tribu- 
tary river an extraordinary skull was discovered. Of what- 
ever nature these colossal creatures may have been that an- 
ciently tenanted the wilds or the waters of Cape Breton, 
their race is now utterly extinct. 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 309 

Winter lasts from the beginning of November to the end 
of April. The ice in the harbor of Sydney seldom . breaks 
up until the middle of the latter month, and for two months 
following the *coast is subject to the visitations of drift ice 
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, — a great impediment both 
to navigation and vegetation. Few winters pass without a 
depression of the mercury to twenty degrees below zero, 
and sometimes to thirty. The country is also subject to 
great and sudden changes of temperature — thaws of a week's 
duration often occurring in mid-winter. It is this that 
proves so destructive to plants not indigenous to the cli- 
mate, rather than the severity of the cold. During a bright 
forenoon in spring, the mercury rises to summer heat, and 
has been noticed at ninety-six; the land thus heated, hav- 
ing communicated its temperature to the atmosphere caused 
it to ascend, producing a current from seaward, which drives 
the masses of loose ice into the harbors : the presence of the 
ice brings the adjacent shores rapidly down to the freeziug 
point. 

A terrible gale swept the Gulf of St. Lawrence in August, 
1873, wrecking hundreds of vessels. The storm attained its 
greatest force around the Island of Cape Breton ; it lasted 
only a few hours, but was fearfully destructive in its effects, 
and strewed all the neighboring coasts with drowned mari- 
ners. Over sixty sail from the New England harbor of 
Gloucester alone, were included among the lost. The storm 
has since been known as The Lord's Day Gale, 'from the 
day on which it commenced. The morning dawned bright 
and clear, and 

" Was never a Gloucester skipper there 
But thought erelong, with a right good fare, 
To sail for home from St. Lawrence Bay. " 

Towards noon the breeze freshened, and at nightfall, the 
gtoim was beating upon the Guif in all its fury. But 



310 ACEDIA 

"The bedtime bells in Gloucester town 

That Sabbath night rang soft and clear; 
The sailors' children laid them down, — 

Dear Lord ! their sweet prayers couldst thou hear? 
*Tis said that gently blew the winds ; 
The good- wives, through the seaward blinds, 

Looked down the bay and had no fear." 

NEWFOTTNDXAHD. 

The Island of Newfoundland, called Helluland by the 
early Norse navigators, is of triangular configuration, with 
bold and rocky shores springing directly out of the Atlan- 
tic. It is located on the ocean highway from England to 
New York ; its area is considerable more than that of Ire- 
land, while its coast line is double that of the Atlantic 
States. It is separated from the bleak and barren coasts of 
Labrador by the narrow Strait of Bellisle, and is washed 
by the waters of the Laurentian Gulf on the west. It is the 
home of the cod and seal hsbers, whose rude huts and fish- 
flakes line the shores of its deeply indented bays. These 
flakes are frames constructed of poles, on which are spread 
codfish, dressed and salted, to be dried in the sun. Many 
parts of the narrow line of coast are literally roofed over 
with these stages during the season, imparting a peculiar 
odor to the atmosphere. In March or April, almost all the 
men go out in fleets to meet the ice that floats down from 
the northern regions, to kill the seals that come down on it. 
Later their boats dot the seas in the pursuit of cod ; while 
the women remain at home to plant and tend the little gar- 
dens, and dry the fish. 

In the vicinity of St. John and other considerable towns, 
the superb villas of merchants and business men now and 
then peep out from among the dark fir woods. The brac- 
ing atmosphere, the clear blue skies, the matchless sea- 
views, studded with islets and gay with white-winged ves- 
sels, together with the pretty pastoral scenery of the coun- 



ENGLISH OCCUPATION 311 

try back of the settlements, — such would be a paradise but 
for the short Newfoundland summer. 

The island has been termed a land of fog, — but this feature 
is more characteristic of the fishing banks, from which it ia 
separated by a strip of deep water fifty miles in width. — 
Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, the fog rarely 
lifts from these banks, and a slow rain almost incessantly 
falls. Not unfrequently these fogs are so dense that ob- 
jects within sixty feet are totally invisible, at which times 
the fishing vessels at anchor are apt to be run down by the 
great Atlantic steamers. The proximity of icebergs which 
often ground on the banks, is indicated by the intense cold 
they send through even a midsummer day, and by the white 
glare in the air, and the roar of breakers on their sides. 
Fogs are comparatively rare ashore : the mists which envel- 
op the banks, to the great peril of navigators, roll up, day 
by day, a huge white sea-wall, to within a mile or two 
of the coast, while within the harbor all is sunshine.— 
Silvery ribands mark the courses of rivers that take their 
rise in lakes among mountains far in the interior, where the 
foot of civilized man has never trod ; and, stretching through 
miles of stunted forest of fir and spruce — the home of the 
bear and cariboo — and dashing down precipices, at last find 
their way to the Atlantic. Owing to the influence of the 
Gulf Stream, frost does not come till late in October, and 
in early fall it is an exceedingly pleasant land for the hunt- 
er. In 1822, an adventurous Scotchman crossed the inte- 
rior, and his description of the natural parks, over which 
roamed herds of reindeer, should have attracted sportsmen. 
Fish are abundant, and trout will take a fly from a line held 
over them from the hand. 

Bayard Taylor says of the Bay of Bulls : " The village i3 
built around the head of the harbor; the hills behind it 
have been cleared and turned into fields of grass and bar- 
ley. The place with its wooden church, its fish-flakes along 



312 



ACAPLft 



the water,, its two or three large storehouses, its yellow 
fields of late hay T and the dark dwarfish woods behind, re- 
minded me of a view on one of the Norwegian fjords." 

Icebergs are seen off the east shore at almost all season?,, 
and dense fogs are often illumined by the white glare which 
precedes them, Field-ice is also common during the sum- 
mer, but is easily avoided by the warning of the "-ice-blink.' r 

The natives met with on the discovery of Newfoundland 
were Esquimaux, — men of stalwart frame and fierce dispo- 
sition. Their complexion was a dark red r and they were 
renowned for their courage in battle. From the first, they 
were the implacable enemies of the whites. The Micmae 
Indians of Nova Scotia and these red Indians bad earned on 
a war of extermination long before the advent of Europe- 
ans ; each landing on the other r s coast, scalping the men, 
and carrying the women into slavery. The rifle and bayo- 
net of the white man finally overcame the valor of these 
fierce natives ; abandoning the coasts they fled into the al- 
most impregnable forests of the interior. Sometimes, in the 
long winter nights, they crept out from their fastnesses, and 
visited some lone hamlet with a terrible vengeance. The 
settlers, in turn, hunted them like wolves, and they were so 
reduced in numbers that they seldom ventured to appear ; 
it was known that a few lingered, but were almost forgotten. 

The winter of 1830 was unusually severe and prolonged- 
Towards spring a settler was cutting timber at some dis- 
tance from one of the remote villages, when two gaunt fig- 
ures crept out of the bush, and with sad cries and painful 
gestures implored help. The settler, terrified at their hag- 
gard looks and uncouth appearance, seized his gun and 
shot the foremost ; the other tossed his ieau arms wildly in- 
to the air, and the woods rang with his despairing shriek as 
he rushed away. Since that time none of the race have been 
seen on the island; and it is believed the last of them per- 
ished from the severity of the winter. 



THE FISHEKIES. 



Stretched along the Atlantic side of Nova Scotia, Cape 
Breton and Newfoundland, are numerous tracts of shallow 
sea, or submarine fields, where the depth of the water varies 
from sixteen to sixty fathoms. The bottoms are chiefly 
sand, shingie and sheds, and are believed to be the summits 
of submerged mountains. These so-called "banks" are 
swept by that powerful Atlantic current called the Gulf 
Stream, and owe their changes and perhaps their formation, 
to its action. The Gulf Stream is a mid-ocean river pouring 
out of the Gulf of Mexico, at a temperature several degrees 
higher than that of the ocean at the equator, and falling 
only to eighty degrees when in the vicinity of the Grand 
Banks. This stream is of an indigo blue, with boundaries 
sharply defined against the light green of the seas through 
which it passes,* and is the home of multitudes of fish; 
while the many indentures of the adjacent shores, commu. 
nicating with hundreds of fresh-water streams, by famishing 
favorable ground for spawning and abundance of rich exuvire 
on which to feed, render the locality still more favorable as 
the resort of the finny tribes. 

Early in April the herring rush in from the Atlantic 



* This change is so sudden that when a ship is crossing the line, two 
thermometers dropped the same instant from her bow and stern, will 
show a difference of thirty degrees. 



314 ACADIA 

towards the shores in dense shoals. Cod, haddock and pol- 
lock follow them, and feed upon the flanks of the advance 
armies : these in turn are pursued by sharks and other fish 
cf prey, and it is not until the harmless tribes enter the riv- 
ers and estuaries that they obtain respite from their vora- 
cious enemies. Here they are assailed by every device that 
man can invent for their capture, before their rear is fairly 
safe from attack by the hungry tribes of the deep ; and had 
not God created them with wonderful powers of reproduc- 
tion, nothing short of annihilation could result. Fattened 
by the exuviae of the creeks and bays, they supply not only 
the wants of the farmer-fishermen along the coasts, but fur- 
nish the great fish marts of the world; and they are no- 
where else found so varied in kind and so abundant in 
quantity. Even during the coldest days of winter the shore- 
man can live upon this cheap luxury taken from the water 
within sight of his cabin window. Not unfrequently the 
fish are taken in such numbers that the farmer drives his 
team to the shore and loads his wagon from the " haul," 
whiie quantities of the dead and dying fish are left to be 
washed away by the next tide.* 

The revenue from this source was one of the chief causes 
of the early broils between the French and English in Aca- 
dia. After the treaty of Paris, when France renounced her 
claim to the western empire, England and her colonies main- 
ly shared the fisheries between them. Among the vexed 



* The seal fishery is still prosecuted with profit in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland. When the Europeans first 
began to frequent Canso as a fishing station, walrus were quite abund- 
ant, and their teeth, which equal the ivory of the elephant, formed a val- 
uable article of crade. When the ice-fields became closed, these animals 
would sometimes land and sport on the snow. They were attacked by 
bands of fishermen with spears, and such bavoc was made among them 
that they finally disappeared. At North Cape their bones are still found 
in the forest 



t 



THE FISHERIES 315 

questions out of which grew the War of the Revolution, this 
subject was a fruitful source of disagreement ; and one of 
the first measures of the mother country to bring the colo- 
nists into obedience, was to deprive them of their right in 
Acadian fisheries. 

During that war, the colonies neglected this branch of in- 
dustry, the New England mariners having engaged in the 
less sure but more alluring business of privateering. The 
treaty of peace of 1783, provided " that the people of the 
United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right 
to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and all other 
banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of 
both countries used at any time to fish ; and also that the 
inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take 
fish of every kind on such parts of the coast of Newfound- 
land as British fishermen shall use, and also on the coasts, 
bays, and creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty's do- 
minions in America." Previous to this the New England 
colonial governments Lad granted bounties and certain im- 
munities to the property and persons engaged in the fish- 
eries, to which fact may be ascribed much of the interest 
of their hardy seamen in this lucrative branch of industry. 

This question continued to be the subject of various dis- 
putes and arrangements between the United States and 
Great Britain. The latter claimed at the Treaty of Ghent, 
that the war of 1812 annulled the original treaty of 1783, 
and the question was left open until 1818, when a conven- 
tion granted the United States the right to fish in the deep 
sea, and to dry and cure on the British coasts ; that power 
renouncing all claim to fish within three miles of shore, but 
retaining the privilege of entering any harbor to get wood, 
obtain shelter, and repair damages. This agreement did 
not end the dispute. The British Crown claimed that by 
the convention of 1818, "American citizens were excluded 



316 



*r^DIA 



from fishing within three miles of the coast of British Amer- 
ica, and that the prescribed distance is to be measured from 
the headlands or extreme points of land next the sea of the 
coast, or of the entrance of the bays, and not from the inte- 
rior of such bays or indents of the coast." This interpreta- 
tion by the legal authorities of the Crown would close the 
Bay of Chaleurs, the Bay of Fundy and the St. Lawrence 
Gulf to American fishermen — to which the United States 
authorities were not inclined to submit. 

An English writer claims, that that part of the treaty 
which permitted the Americans to enter the harbors in dis- 
tress, or for fuel and water, was made a complete loophole 
for evasion. "While one part of the crew T ," says he, "are 
filling a water cask, the remainder are collecting bait, fish- 
ing, or clearing decks of the offal so pernicious to the fisher- 
ies. I was informed of a vessel that carried two bowsprits, 
one for sea service, and another which had been sprang, for 
in-shore work. With the latter, the skipper could enter any 
of the harbors by night or by day. W r e transcribe other 
assertions from the same authority,* giving the British view 
of this vexed question, taking the privilege of condensing 
where it can be done without injury to the sense. 

"Early in the spring fleets are sent out from the New 
England States, destined for the coasts of the British Prov- 
inces. They are well supplied with provisions, salt, empty 
casks, seines, nets, twines, hooks, jigs, bait-mills, and every 
article required. Of this craft there are two kinds, the 
real fisherman and the 'speculator in fish.' The latter car- 
ry pork, flour, molasses, tobacco, gin, and almost every ar- 
ticle required by the provincial fisherman. These vessels 
are soon 'out of water,' or 'spring a mast,' and then they 
are steared into the nearest harbor, where a barter traffic is 
immediately commenced. Fish are taken in payment of 






* Gesaoi. 






THE FISHERIES 317 

American goods, which, being duty free, are given to the 
fisherman at a much lower price than those obtained from 
the home merchant ; aud the vessel departs in time to keep 
clear of the revenue officer, leaving the butts and flakes of 
the shoremen fishless." 

" A very clever old sea Captain told me that he ' once ran 
into St. Mary's. Tidings of my doings had got out, and on 
the night of my arrival, a revenue cutter came to anchor 
right alongside of me. I could not get away, as the wind 
biowed a sthTer right into the harbor. All at once I had it. 
I sent ashore and borrowed two young calves from one of 
my old customers, and lifted tbem on deck. I dressed two 
of my Nantucket boys in women's cloths, topping them off 
with a pair of bonnets sent in my vessel as a venture. By 
the first peep of day I sent them to washing shirts, and as 
I seed the crew of the cutter about to move, I went in my 
little boat and axed the people of the cruiser if they would 
give me a bit of canvas to mend my mainsail, and sure 
enough they gave me a fairish piece. There we ail lay till 
twelve o'clock, my women washing and drying clothes, and 
our calves bleating like mad for their mothers. The wind 
came round, the cutter got under weigh, and as she round- 
ed past us the captain hailed, and asked if I would sell one 
of the calves. I told hiai they were a particular breed, and 
not for sale. The captain answered he thought that remark 
would apply to our whole* crew. And when I saw that his 
jib was turned the right way, I made a low bow to him, sent 
my calves on shore, turned my washerwomen into boys 
again, and finished the trade of the Peggy Ann.' 

"In another instance, 'it was stark calm, and as the fog 
cleared up a little I saw I was in the very jaws of a ship of 
war, and I gave up ail for lost ; however, as they were low- 
ering their jolly-boat to board me, I skulled off to them in 
my little punt, and asked the people in the ship if they 
knowed what was good for the measles. I could hear them 



318 ACEDIA 

laugh from stem to stern ; and a big fat man they called the 
doctor, told me to keep my patients warm, and give them 
hot drinks. It was enough; they took care not to come 
nearer the Peggy Ann that time.' " 

More than half a century passed away, marked by various 
disputes and treaties, when, finally, the Treaty of Wash- 
ington was signed. This instrument stipulated that the 
fisheries of both countries should be thrown open recipro- 
cally. England soon complained that the privileges grant- 
ed were greater than those accorded her in return, and it 
was finally agreed to refer the matter to a commission com- 
posed of three members : — one from the United States, one 
from Great Britain, and a third to be named by the Emper- 
or of Austria. After a delay of nearly six years the com- 
mission was organized, the three arbitrators being DeForse, 
Sir A. T. Gait, and ex-Judge Kellogg, of Massachusetts. — 
Judge Foster, assisted by R. H. Dana, Jr., and others, had 
charge of the American side. The interests of Canada were 
mainly confided to Mr. Doutre, an eminent lawyer of Mon- 
treal. 

The British case was divided into two parts — Canada, and 
Newfoundland. It held, in effect, that fishing in American 
waters was worthless, claiming an award of $12,000,000 for 
the use by the Americans of the Canadian inshore fisheries 
for twelve years — the period covered by the treaty — and 
$2,28 0,000 for the use of the Newfoundland fisheries. The 
Americans denied substantially these ciairns. The commis- 
sion awarded Great Britain $5,500,000, to be paid within 
the year. The treaty expires by stipulation in 1885. 



LEGENDS. 



It is not without some degree of solicitude tbat we ap- 
pend this portion of the book, not so much from a suspi- 
cion that it is out of place in authentic history, as from the 
fear its purpose may be misunderstood. 

Closely associated with the every-day life of a pastoral 
people is always to be found a deal of folk-lore, to which 
their customs, their religion, and their surroundings give a 
coloring. The traditions of a country are generally found- 
ed on actual occurrences, and reflect, with singular fidelity, 
the social and intellectual condition of its people ; and, more- 
over, these traditionary tales often constitute the only data 
at the command of the antiquarian to aid in determining 
important historical questions. These legends were picked 
up at the country firesides during a sojourn in this myste- 
iioas„ and romantic region; and the effort has been made 
to render them presentable, at the same time giving an in- 
sight into the peculiar customs of the early Acadian peas- 
antry, and also a description of the more salient features in 
the natural phenomena of this tide-swept, storm-beaten, 
fog-bound land of ice and snows. This is done with the 
design of aiding the student of history to a better under- 
standing of the strictly authentic portions of this volume, 
at the same time they may serve to draw the attention of 
the superficial reader. 

We should not omit a favorable mention of the garrulous 
little Frenchman, Pierre, who was most profoundly versed 
in the hidden lore of this mysterious land, and whom we oc- 
casionally employed in the capacity of cicerone, to whose 
kind offices the reader is indebted for much contained in the 
succeeding chapters. 



THE CHURCH OF GRAND PRE. 



During one of our evening rambles about Grand Pre, 
we came upon a number of hollows partially filled with 
earth and debris, and overgrown with a rank growth of 
weeds and bushes. These excavations are to be met with 
in great numbers along the banks of the Canard and Corn- 
wallis rivers, and in the vaiiey of the Gaspereau, and mark 
the cellars on which stood the thatched dwellings of the 
peaceful Acadians, that were burned by order of Colonel 
"Winslow. The shades of the northern twilight began to 
deepen, casting spectral shadows among a group of French 
willows, which, transported from far France more than a 
century ago, yet sadly waved their few scattered branches 
over the despoiled home of the hand that had planted them. 
Whose children had played under their shade, or what their 
fate, is only a matter of conjecture; but we do know that 
virtue, contentment and domestic happiness reigned in those 
Acadian homes, and that the fondest and dearest hopes of 
thousands were, in one short hour, broken in sunder. I 
had not noticed the absence of Pierre, until I heard hiui 
calling to me from a neighboring field. On coming up I 
found him intently observing some faintly marked ridges in 
the verdant clover. " Some Acadian relic ! " I said to myself, 
wondering what new romance was about to be unraveled. 

" Here," said he after a moment's pause, "nereis the very 



LEGENDS 323 

spot where stood the churcn of Grand Pre, in -which the 
French were imprisoned and their fate announced to them." 

On a closer inspection I found we were standing in a 
small rectangle marked by a slight rise of earth at the four 
sides, and which evidently had been the site of a building 
of some sort. Not wishing to manifest any doubt as to the 
correctness of the information, I said inquiringly, "I have: 
understood the site of that church was at the end of that 
row of willows yonder, where you see that charred stump." 

"I know, 1 ' said Pierre, "some say it stood there, but you 
see they are mistaken. My grandfather, who ran into the 
woods and did not leave the country, pointed out this as the 
place. He used to say, that the bell of the church was 
buried, just before the English came, in a vault built of 
stone, and covered with earth. The vault was walled up in 
two parts ; into one of these they put the bell, and the oth- 
er was for the church treasure. You see times then were 
just, a bit uncertain, and most of the people had buried their 
specie. My grandfather said that for a time previous, the peo- 
ple frequently heard strange noises in the air, and saw un- 
usual sights in the sky at night, and they thought these 
things were the forerunners of some great evil." 

"Then the beil lies buried here yet." said I. 

"Oh, there you are mistaken," replied Pierre. "Some 
believe that the bell and the church treasure were dug up 
and carried away by robbers. A great many years ago a 
strange vessel was observed in the Basin of Minas, and a 
party of men were seen to leave it about midnight and come 
ashore here. Before daybreak a terrible storm arose, and 
the next morning nothing was seen of the ship. Some 
thought that during the night, while the wind was blowing 
loudest, they heard sounds of a church bell, but little was 
thought of it, until they observed the earth had been dis- 
turbed; and a piece of wood was picked up near this place, 
of a shape sometimes used to support a bell in a tower. 



324 ACEDIA 

From these circumstances they were led to surmise that 
robbers had found out where the vault was, and carried away 
what they wanted. But the strangers were probably lost 
in the storm, as the wreck of an unknown vessel was found 
by some fishermen a day or two subsequently at the foot of 
Cape Blomidon. You see they couldn't carry off that bell, 
and the priest's robes and things that belonged to the 
church, that is, those who hadn't airy right to, and the heavy 
gale that night was raised up to defeat their plans." 

" Then the bell is in the bottom of Minas Basin," inter- 
rupted I. 

"My grandfather was one who didn't believe this story, 
but claimed the contents of the vault were put on board a 
vessel bound to the Gaspe coast, and were intended for a 
chapel at a village of some Acadians who had taken refuge 
there; but the ship was lost within sight of laud, and every 
soul on board perished. It is said the captain and crew 
had seized the treasure, and divided it among themselves, 
and were not permitted to land with their ill-gotten wealth. 
And they say that bell is sometimes heard, even to this very 
day, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, during heavy storms." 

"And you really believe this you are telling me," said I. 

"It's what others have told me, and I have no reason to 
believe it is not true," he replied. " Have you never heard of 
Captain Pierey, who was caught in such a terrible storm on 
the Gulf, that he would never go to sea again ? Well, may 
be you'd like to hear the story 1 " 

" By all means," I answered. " But let's sit down under 
this clump of buckthorn, and hand me that ulster. The air 
is chiliy with the damp from the meadows, and we will wait 
for the moon to light us home." 



A MYSTERY OF THE GASPE COAST. 



A summer night on the Lauren tian waters ! The sky ia 
resplendent with the northern constellations, that twinkle 
and glow with a brilliancy unknown in lower latitudes, and 
every star mirrored in the vast deep beneath. Scarce a rip- 
ple moves the surface of the sea, and only the measured 
heave ever present in the St. Lawrence Gulf, serves to dis- 
pel the illusion that the Dauphine is floating in mid-air. 
Passengers and crew are gathered on deck, the greater por- 
tion in that listless attitude one assumes when the mind is 
far away. Everyone seems to have forgotten the Gaspe 
ycuth, whose apparent verdancy had made him the object 
of disparagement the whole day; and even Mother Brus- 
saud, who was usually either complaining of the present, or 
borrowing trouble of the future, for once is strangely si- 
lent. 

I was reclining at full length, lulled by the unusual quiet 
into that delicious, half-dreamy state, in which past and 
present seem blended together. The sails of the Dauphine 
hung useless from her yards; the sailors moved about with 
a noiseless tread ; everything on board comported with the 
unwonted hush and stillness that characterized the elements. 

While I was thus reposing, I suddenly became conscious 
of an unusual sound. Was it fancy, or did something tan- 
gible really affect my outward senses ? Presently I heard 
the sound repeated, but in scarcely audible tones, not un- 



ACADIA 

like the notes of a distant church bell. I &ssvme& an tip- 
right posture, and gazed about me. Once more the mellow 
cadence was borne upon the night air, this time with more 
distinctness than before. I abruptly broke the silence with — 

"Hark ! Did you hear that bell?' 1 ' 

A number thought they did hear something : others sug- 
gested I bad been dreaming, and were inclined to raise a 
laugh at my expense. The Captaim noting the sudden re- 
newal of conversation, now came up to see what was going 
on. 

'' The gentleman insists that he just now heard a chapel 
bell ringing for vespers," exclaimed one of the passengers, 
pointing to me. 

"Listen a moment and be convinced," said I, beginning to 
get not a little piqued ; "the sound seemed to come from 
that direction/' and I indicated the Labrador coast. 

All now assumed an attitude of listening — some I suspect- 
ed, from their mock gravity, more bent, on mischief than in 
expectation of hearing the bell. The suspense was becom- 
ing irksome; but suddenly all were startled, when from over 
the sea came the distinct notes of a beli, several strokes fol- 
lowing each other in regular succession, then ceasing. 

"Perhaps it's the bell of some convent on shore," said 
one, addressing the Captain. 

"That can hardly be," answered that officer; "we're at 
least two hundred miles from the coast of Labrador, and the 
sound seems to come from that direction." 

"It's the bell of doom," growled an old sailor, Tarpaulin 
Jack, who was lazily smoking his pipe as he leaned over the 
taffrail, peering in the direction from whence the sound 
came. 

"I knowed sumthin' was sure to happen," chimed in 
Mother Brussaud. "I told my folks so before I left, but 
they only laughed. A loup-garou screamed around our 
house one night not long ago, and only last night I dreained 



LEGENDS 327 

o! seein 1 a pale blue light on the water; " and the old wom- 
an drew a small crucifix from her bosom, and began devout- 
ly to implore the interposition of the good St. Anne to pro- 
tect her. 

" "Whatever it is, we're rapidly nearing it," said the Cap- 
tain after a pause ; " don't you see the strokes are becom- 
ing more distinct each time ? " 

The truth of the Captain's observation was apparent, — 
the tones of the bell were momentarily becoming louder, 
and the cause, whatever it might be, was rapidly coming 
nearer. The Captain now called for his night-glass, but 
was unable to detect any unusual object. " Here, Leopold," 
turning to a sailor at his side — "you have the sharpest eyes 
of any on the ship, take tins and tell us what you can see." 

"I see some white object, like the sails of a vessel. Hold 
on I I have got the thing to a focus. Til be bio wed if it 
ain't a packet under fuii sail, and she pitches and rocks as 
though in a heavy sea." 

" Take the glass once more and tell us her course," said 
the Captain. 

" Nearly due west, sir," said the sailor : and in a moment 
more he added, — "and as sure as I'm alive, they have got 
a bell rigged to the mast-head, that rings at each pitch of 
the vessel. That's a queer craft and no mistake." 

u Port the helm two points," said the Captain to the man 
at the wheel, " I am going to run down that ship ; I have 
never yet steered aloof from anything that floats in these 
waters, and I am going to find out what it all means. — 
What more can you make out, Leopold? " 

"Nothing, nothing — only they seem to be having a storm 
all to themselves. I can see the white caps of the waves 
all about their ship, and I cau see sailors skurrying about 
the decks and in the riggin', as though their lives de- 
pended on it. She's a clumsy craft, sir, like taey used to 
build a hundred years ago. I can see a woman ail in white, 



328 acavta 

and she looks to be wringing her hands-. I don T t like the 
ljoks of thein at all, sir!" 

" Lower the long boat," thundered the Captain. " Who'll 
volunteer to board that vessel r " Then as he received no 
immediate answer, he continued — " I'll go myself. Will any 
of you go along f Are you afraid to follow me? '* 

"I'm not afraid of anything in the shape of flesh and 
blood, Captain," said an old sailor, coming forward, "and 
I'll go with you anywhere ; but I don't like the looks of that 
'ere vessel. Every one of them sailors are spooks, and that's 
the I'ourmente, stove on the rocks near here over a hun- 
dred years ago, and every man on board drowned. I've 
heard strange stories, Captain, about that ship, and I'd 
rather give her a wide berth." 

Eager listeners now crowded round the old sailor, to hear 
more about the phantom ship. Tradition said that the 
French people at Grand Pre buried the bell and the treas- 
ure of the church just previous to its burning by the Eng- 
lish. The vault was subsequently opened, and the con- 
tents put on board the Tourmente for transportation to a 
Catholic chapel on the Gaspe coast ; but the captain forci- 
bly seized the treasure and divided it between himself and 
the crew. This was done contrary to the earnest protesta- 
tions of a Catholic priest, who pronounced a curse upon all 
who participated in the affair. This priest left the ship at 
the other side of the Gulf, and the vessel proceeded. But 
before she reached her destination, yet within sight of peo- 
ple living on the coast, a terrible storm arose, which dashed 
the ship against the rocks, and not a soul survived to tell 
of the catastrophe. Sailors tell of meeting with the spec- 
tral vessel and its skeleton crew, always in the teeth of a 
terrible gale, who are obliged, by reason of the curse pro- 
nounced against them, to sail up and down the gulf, until 
the bell is restored to its rightful owners. It's an ill omen 
to hear the ringing of a bell on these waters, previous to a 



LEGENDS 329 

storm, and the fishing craft frequenting these parts regard 
a meeting with that mysterious sail as something to be 
avoided. 

"Why, I am sure there are no indications of a storm just 
now," observed the Captain, anxious to allay the fears that 
were arising among the passengers at the superstitious no- 
tions of the old sailor. And, in obedience to the general 
wish, he did not pursue further his purpose of boarding the 
strange ship. 

Nearer and nearer came the phantom vessel, till the white 
sails were visible to the naked eye. As the relative position 
of the two vessels changed, the binnacle lamp of the strang- 
er was brought into view, that threw a pale light over the 
surrounding objects. Her sails were bellied as if in the 
face of a heavy gale. Then the skeleton shapes could be 
seen moving about as though in the execution of orders. — 
The rocking and pitching of the vessel, the swinging of 
ropes and blocks, the dashiug of the waves against her side, 
and the white foam at her prow, — all this was plainly vis- 
ible, yet unaccompanied by any sound, save the clanging of 
the bell at the mast-Lead. This was the more singular, as 
our own vessel was still becalmed, the breeze hardly suffic- 
ing to keep the Dauphine's head in her course. 

On came the spectral vessel, crossing our bows so closely 
as to allow the blue binnacle light to flicker full in our fa- 
ces. The female figure in white appeared as a young girl, 
in the attitude of despair. The old legend says she was a 
passenger on board the ill-fated Tourmente, and was lost 
with the crew, in sight of her lover on shore. The latter, 
maddened at the sight of her struggling in the water, plunged 
into the breakers and perished with her. Everything about 
the decks of the strange ship, the dress of the unearthly 
crew and the cut of the sails, was of a fashion pertaining to 
the reign of the Georges. 

Scarcely had the apparition passed, when a strange op- 



330 ACADIA 

pressiveness in the ah' became manifest ; and before the 
passengers and crew had recovered from their surprise, they 
were startled by an exclamation from the mate : — the barom- 
eter had suddenly fallen, an alarming indication that a vio- 
lent gale was at hand. 

Instantly all was activity on board the Dauphine. The 
hoarse orders of the mate, the answers of the sailors, the 
creaking of blocks, all betokened how imminent the danger 
was thought to be, and that brave men were doing their ut- 
most to prepare for it. Before any one was really aware of 
it, the sky had become overcast, and a thick darkness set- 
tled over the vessel ; — a darkness broken only by the phos- 
phorescent gleaming on the water, and a mere spark far to 
the west, the binnacle light of the retreating phantom ship. 
The very elements seemed to be conspiring. The stoutest 
hearts beat more quickly. The Captain forgot to intersperse 
his orders with the usual oaths. The sailors no longer in- 
dulged in their coarse jokes ; and the human voice had such 
an unusual sound in the ravened atmosphere, that no words 
■were spoken save those necessary to the working of the ship. 
Passengers clung to one another, and many embraced with 
the thought they had looked their last upon the green earth. 
Soon ail preparations were made ; and the officers and crew, 
having done all that human hands could do for the safety 
of those on board, awaited the coming of the tempest. 

"Hold fast your lines and be ready, every man at his 
post," said the chief officer in solemn, measured tones, 
u there's no knowing from which direction the gale will first 
strike us. God help we may not be driven toward land, for 
if— " 

All at once the whole sky seemed rent from horizon to 
horizon by a terrible flash of lightning. It was the most 
blindiug flash I ever remember to have seen ; the whole sur- 
face of the sea seemed ablaze with the horrid glare ; and so 
frightfully vivid had been the momentary gleam, that it was 



LEGENDS 6^1 

soma time before the power of the eye was restored. Then 
followed a solemn, hollow peal of thunder, utterly insignifi- 
cant compared with tb<? flash, which seemed so mysterious 
as still further to depress the spirits of all. 

U I don't like the looks of this thing," said the man at the 
wheel, rubbing his eyes. By this time most of the passen- 
gers had sought their berths. The crew had been told 
that, none would be allowed to go below that uight, but 
were to remain at their posts ready for any emergency. All 
above was literally black with a ponderous darkness, which 
rendered all the more marked the green and blue of the 
phosphorescent gleaming of the water about the vessel. 
While watching the play of the weird and flickering lights 
as they darted and dipped about the ripples, resolving 
themselves into strange and fanciful figures, I was blinded 
by another flash of lightning, accompanied with an instan- 
taneous report of thunder. Masts, spars, and vessel seemed 
all on fire; I thought I heard a cry, and knew that we were 
struck, but in what part of the ship I could not tell. The 
mate who also heard the cry, now came forward and inquired 
if any one was hurt. While he was speaking a confused 
roar was heard in the distance, which momentarily increased 
until it resembled the rush of a cataract, and every one 
knew it was coming. 

" Helm hard aport ! " was heard in tones not to be mis- 
understood. "Quick, now." 

"Aye. aye, sir," came the answer. Then followed the 
creaking of the rudderpost : slowly, and all feared too slow- 
ly, the good ship answered to her helm. Then came anoth 
er blinding flash, a louder peal of thunder, and a gust struck 
the vessel that almost took the masts bodily out of her. 
All this occurred in such rapid succession that nothing could 
be said or done till it was past. 

" If that's only a feeler, there'll be business for us when 
the storm settles down in earnest," said Tarpaulin Jack. 



332 ACADIA 

Meantime the vessel had been brought to her course. A 
man was sent to assist the one at the wheel; while the oth- 
ers stood by for a sudden call. The second charge of the 
storm's outriders was not long in waiting. It struck the 
ship with still more violence than the former one. All were 
in momentary expectation of hearing the snapping of a mast 
or the giving way of a sail, but the staunch vessel bore it 
well, and tore through ihe water like a race-horse. 

" We're heading towards the nearest land," said the Cap- 
tain ; if the gale continues long at this rate, nothing short 
of a miracle can keep us off the Gaspe reefs. Do you see 
that ? " — and he pointed directly astern. 

The sea was one mass of foam and surging billows, and 
the phosphorescent glow everywhere present, enabled one 
to see in any direction. Directly in the rear of us was a 
black cloud, while beneath this cloud, and in contact with 
the white-crested naves, wa«s a dull luminous mist of a red- 
dish hue. It was this that the Captain had noticed. A 
new sound now reached us — the roar accompanying this neb- 
ulous cloud : as it came up it fairly howled about our ears. 
This bellowing of the wind is something one never hears ex- 
cept at sea. It differs from the roar of the winter's blast as 
it rushes down the mountain and sweeps along the valley ; 
it seems endowed with a fiendish propensity, that delights 
in wreck and ruin, and whose sole mission is to destroy. — 
Its shriek among the shrouds is a sound never to be forgot- 
ten, and sets at nought all description. A two-fold strength 
seemed added to the force of the gale, and the hardiest sail* 
or was obliged to turn his back to the wind, and hold on by 
main strength to whatever was at hand to keep from being 
blown into the sea. 

Once all was given up for lost. — A heavy wave buried the 
vessel and knocked the men from the wheel : before she 
could be righted another billow struck her at a disadvant' 
age ; fortunately, the helm was put down, and the ship an- 



liEOENDS 838 

swering it promptly, she was brought out of imminent dan- 
ger. The men were now lashed to the wheel to prevent a 
repetition of such a catastrophe. 

. In this way passed the hours till after midnight. But 
little change was noticeable ; the gale was scarcely abated ; 
the laboring and straining of the noble ship began to tell 
on her strength; she groaned audibly as wave after wave 
passed over her, and the practiced ears of the sailors knew 
she could not bear it much longer. 

Shortly after midnight, during a temporary lull in the 
tempest, a shriek broke upon the air; in a few moments it 
was repeated. Was it from the sea or sky, or did it come 
from some part of the ship? What could it mean? "Go 
below, Leopold, and see if all is right." 

The sailor made his way with difficulty along the slippery 
deck, being twice washed from his feet and jammed against 
the mast with so much force as to knock the wind out of 
him ; after repeated trials he at length reached the gang- 
way, and disappeared down the ladder. 

Presently we heard him calling for the Captain, who pro- 
ceeded to the gangway, directing me to follow. At the foot 
stood Leopold, with a lantern in his hand, and his face the 
very picture of terror. Without uttering a word he led us 
directly to the berth occupied by Mother Brussaud, when 
what a sight met our gaze! There lay the old woman, 
holding in one hand the crucifix, with both arms extended 
as if fur help, with her eyes turned upward in her head un- 
til nothing but the whites were visible, stone dead! A dark 
streak passed down the face and along the left arm of the 
unfortunate woman, the quick work of the lightning's flash. 
Her forebodings had this time been realized. She had evi- 
dently been dead some hours, and if so, what was that cry 
just heard? At this moment an unusual movement was 
heard on deck, and we hurried up to see what new danger 
menaced us. 



334 ACADIA 

"What is that bright light to the west, sir," said a sailor 
to the Captain who reached the deck during one of the brief 
lulls of the storm, " are we nearing the land? " 

" That comes from the binnacle of the ship the spooks are 
sailing in," answered another tar. 

Presently the voice of the Captain was heard — "Is there 
any one on board that's acquainted with this coast ? In 
haf an hour well be among the breakers I n 

For several minutes no one answered. The Captain re- 
peated the question — " Does any among you know this 
coast? " Still no answer came. Every individual on board 
knew their situation was almost hopeless, and all shrank 
from assuming any responsibility in such a dire extremity. 
It was a time of terrible suspense. They were being driv- 
en forward with frightful rapidity, every moment bearing 
them nearer to what seemed inevitable destruction. All at 
once a voice rang out clear above the roar of the storm and 
seething of the billows — 

"I do, sir!" 

There was something in that voice that revived hope in 
every breast. "Well, come forward, and let's know who and 
what you are/ T shouted the Captain. But when the Gaspe 
youth, Ettrinee, came up, a murmur of disapprobation ran 
through the crew. Even the Captain could not help par- 
taking of the general sentiment ; but as he turned the light 
of the lamp full on the youth, a look of surprise lighted up 
the features of that officer. 

The young man was no longer the diffident and hesitat- 
ing youth of the day before. Every line of his countenance 
was animated, the figure erect, the voice strong and manly, 
and he stood the scrutiny of the Captain with a grace that 
evinced a consciousness of his own powers. 

"Well, who are you, and what do you know about it," 
said the Captain in as gruff a voice as he could assume. 

" 1 was born within a league of where this vessel is likely 



LEGENDS 335 

to strike, and know every cove and reef within twenty 
miles." This was uttered with a freedom and decision that 
at once made friends of the crew. 

"How do you know, young man, where this ship is going 
to strike, when there are no lighthouses within fifty miles 
of here, and the night is so thick you can almost cut it with 
a knife. You can't see a cliff before you can touch it with 
your hand, and the thing is utterly impossible unless you 
are in league with those imps yonder in that ghost of a 
ship." This was spoken in a way that was intended to an- 
nihilate the lad; but he answered without changing a fea- 
ture, or abating a whit of his animation — 
" You see that light just ahead t " 
" Yes, and it's the binnacle lamp of the spooks." 
" So be it," said the boy. " To follow directly in the 
path of that light is your only chance. The phantom ship 
is heading direct for Shelter Cove, to be dashed in pieces 
against a sunken rock at the mouth of the channel, at the 
very spot where the real vessel was wrecked over a hundred 
years ago. The ghost of the maiden's lover will be await- 
ing her on the cliff with a spectre bonfire, that lights up the 
sea for a great distance. By the aid of that light, and by 
noting where the phantom ship disappears, one acquainted 
with the channel may possibly bring his ship into the har- 
bor." Then as if noticing evidences of incredulity on the 
part of his hearers, he continued : " Once a year, at each an- 
niversary of the wreck, this whole scene is gone through ; 
I have several times gone down to the beach to see the bon- 
fire, and the ghost of the young man springing from the 
cliff to join the maid!" 

"And do you suppose you can pilot this vessel into the 
channel you speak of? Recollect, young man, this is a ter- 
rible storm, and many lives are dependent on the safety of 
the ship. Are you willing to take the risk if I see fit to give 
you the authority ? " 



g36* &C3DIS 

u I do not hesitate to take the risk on one condition," re- 
sponded the youth. 

M Name it,"' said the Captain. 

"I will assume the responsibility on condition that I can 
have the entire control. It's your only chance. If the ship 
behaves well, and the sails hold, I think we can bring her 
safely through. You will have to decide pretty soon, as I 
can already hear the sound of breakers ahead," said the boy. 

A hurried consultation of the officers was held - r the idea 
of trusting their lives to a perfect stranger, and who was to 
be guided in his course by lights and signs not of earth, ap- 
peared a purpose too wild and visionary to be entertained. 
However, the Captain favored the plan, and as there seemed 
to be no better coarse, a reluctant consent was given. 

" Go ahead, lad, and let T s see what you can do," said the 
Captain in the presence of the officers. 

"First I want the mizzen stay-sail bent to its place." 

"Why, madman!" said the mate, "the ship has all the 
sa ; ls she can stagger under now ; and would you have her 
blown clear out of water T Besides, no sailors could bend 
a sail of that size in the teeth of such a blast I n 

"Give the lad the trumpet," said the Captain j "I see he 
has the stuff in him, and I believe he knows what he^ about. 
If the spooks will have the kindness to light us into the 
harbor, I for one won't object. Give the lad the trumpet, 
and let's see what comes of it ! " This command the mate 
surlily obeyed, and dropped away muttering to himself. 

But the youth, not apparently noticing the demeanor of 
that officer, caught up the instrument, and began to give the 
orders so rapidly and intelligently, as to excite the admira- 
tion of all, not excepting the mate. The sail was bent to 
its place with a promptness that was remarkable — the crew 
evidently imbibing the spirit of the youthful sailor, for such 
he had already proved himself. The Captain, meanwhile, 
was clapping his hands, so pleased was he at the masterly 



LEGENDS 337 

manner of its accomp!ishinent. As soon as the Dauphine, 
felt tbe force of this additional canvas, she fairly leaped 
from wave to wave ; all looked to see the sail torn to shreds, 
or the masts shaken out of their sockets. 

" She's as staunch a ship as: ever was afloat, and she'll do 
her best to get out of this scrape,'' sang out the Captain, as 
soon as he perceived she would bear the strain. 

"I want two of the most experienced helmsmen at the 
wheel, and your best leadsman forward. Now every man 
at his post and be ready at the word." 

The orders were quickly obeyed and all hands were look- 
ing towards the phantom ship; presently a flash was seen, 
as though a cannon had been fired, though no report was 
heard : this was followed by another and another at regular 
intervals. 

" The spooks are signaling for help," explained the youth. 
Almost immediately a light was seen to break out on the 
summit of a cliff — a pallid, unnatural brightness, yet suf- 
ficient to illuminate the sea for miles. By its aid the end- 
less lines of breakers could be seen on all sides, only a tor- 
tuous, dark line between the crests marked the course of 
the channel. 

Presently the spectral ship was seen to stagger ; her prow 
shot upward, and then the vessel settled slowly down stern 
foremost, and was engulfed in the waves. Not a sound ac- 
companied the catastrophe, only the mournful cadence of 
the bell, still pendant at the mast-head, which kept its se- 
pulchral tolling until it disappeared from sight. And now 
the figure of the girl in white appeared on the boiling surf, 
casting up her arms wildly, as if imploring help ; an out- 
burst from the crew of the Dauphine followed, as from the 
summit of the cliff the form of a man appeared in the act of 
leaping into the sea: the twain were seen for a moment, 
clasped in each other's arms, and then sank from sight. 

Instantly, ship, crew and sea were enveloped in almost 



338 ACADIA 

Cimmerian darkness. Captain and crew stood spell -bound, 
as if doubting the evidence of their senses. Not so with the 
youth, however ; for while the others had been wholly oc- 
cupied with the apparition, his practiced eye had been tak- 
ing in the location of the channel ; and no sooner had the 
light disappeared than the sharp tones of the trumpet were 
again heard ringing above the roar of the tempest. The 
orders came rapidly, and were executed as promptly. 

"Breakers ahead," shouted the lookout forward. 

" Breakers on the lee bow T ," sang out another. 

"Hadn't you better take soundings,'" cried the captain. 

"Not yet," answered the youth; and at the same breath 
issuing the necessary commands to the helmsmen and those 
at the braces, the dreaded reef was soon left astern. 

On went the vessel, plunging heavily into the darkness. 
The compass remained unnoticed in its bos; the line with 
the deep-sea lead was yet coiled in the hands of the leads- 
man ; everything depended on the voice of the stranger 
youth, whom many of the sailors began to suspect as some 
being more than human, sent by their patron saint to bring 
about their deliverance. They saw, by the occasional flash- 
es of lightning, they were close in shore, and could make 
out the dismal, sullen dashing of the waves against the base 
of the cliffs. 

"Helm hard a-port," — came forth from the trumpet, and 
every one knew a critical moment had arrived. The rud- 
der-post turned in its socket not a moment too soon, for as 
the vessel wore round, a flash of lightning revealed a rock 
which seemed to have arisen directly out of the sea, against 
which the yard arms almost grazed as the ship was brought 
about. Thus passed the moments away, — moments which 
seemed lengthened into hours to that anxious crew. Re- 
peatediy was the staunch craft afterwards brought out of 
perils quite as imminent, the youthful pilot proving him- 
selT, thus fa:, eq^al to every emergency. 



LEGENDS 339 

"I sec," said the captain, who was continually giving ut- 
terance to woids of encouragement, — ''I see how the lad 
manages it; he is guided by the racket of the rips, and the 
sounds upon the shore. A quick ear is worth everything in 
such an emergency. We'll be out of this, yet, you may take 
my word for it." 

"Now," said the youth, after a few minutes had elapsed, 
"now comes the critical moment of aL\ We must wear the 
ship about so as to enter that opening in the line of break- 
ers on the left. If there should be a favoring lull in the 
tempest for only the briefest period, we may yet make the 
port in saiety, otherwise all we have yet done avails us noth- 
ing." 

All now awaited the crisis in breathless anxiety. They 
were near the point where the vessel must veer her course, 
or be driven to speedy destruction ; while to maneuver ex- 
cept during the lulls was to capsize her. God help there 
may be a favoring coincidence! 

The ship was now almost abreast the opening, but the 
tempest acted as though understanding their purpose, and 
was determined to thwart it. A momeut more and it will 
be too late ! 

Just as all hope was dying out, the wind ceased its fury, 
as though in obedience to a guiding hand. The orders were 
given ; the ship seemed to realize her peril, for she sprang 
to her new course with a celerity that was surprising. A 
few moments and her prow shot into the narrow opening, 
and as a wild shout of the crew went up at their miracu- 
lous deliverance, the good ship rode gayiy into the gently 
heaving current of the harbor 



SPIRIT CAMP. 



The day had been excessively warm. By the aid of our 
paddles alone, we had measured more than a score of miles 
since dawn. We took time to pause and cast a fly in the 
deep shade of a fir-clad rock, and were rewarded with a num- 
ber of the speckled beauties. The rifle of Pierre had brought 
down a brace of grouse at one of our landings for water; 
and we were cheered with the prospect of a supper "fit for 
the King." 

We were stopping a few days, Pierre and I, amid the 
matchless scenery of the lakes among the Blue Mountains — 
that paradise of the hunter and angler. Early in the morn- 
ing we passed an Indian village. It was composed of some 
dozen wigwams, situated on a small island, in a natural 
meadow, bordered by a grove ox sugar maples. The wigwams 
were built in the Indian fashion, circular in form, with oval 
tops, and covered with bark. The entrances were low, and 
they looked as though a person could not stand upright in 
them. The squaws and pappooses were dodging in and 
out, and otherwise manifesting a coyness of disposition, 
mingled with a curiosity to behold us. The men appeared 
to be absent on a hunting expedition. We noticed among 
them a number of pretty girls, with unmistakable signs of 
white blood in their veins, dressed in good taste, and chat- 
tering in French. There is a melancholy interest attached 
to them, as they are the descendants of wretched Acadian 






LEGENDS 343 

mothers, who, to escape a worse fate, threw themselves into 
the arms of savages. It is hard to conceive, at the present 
time, of the extremity to which a white woman must be re- 
duced to drive her to such an alternative. These females 
are adepts at managing an oar. Standing up in their boats, 
with a large straw hat confined to the head with a narrow 
black string passing from the crown under the chin, the 
large brim standing out straight, they are odd figures 
enough. They will shoot a canoe over a rapid with inimi- 
table dexterity, and with as much ease as a boy will manage 
a wheelbarrow. 

The sun yet wanted some hours to setting when our ca- 
noe shot into a lake of unprecedented beauty. Islands of 
every imaginable contour rose up within it. Here a single 
rock crowned with a solitary tuft of evergreen, stood side by 
side with its more assuming neighbor, bristling with clumps 
of fir, shaggy with Usnea, and fragrant with resinous bal- 
sams. There was a still larger island, with groves of ma- 
ple, beech and birches, with natural meadows luxuriant with 
native grasses, and glowing with patches of wild flowers^ 
the familiar haunt of the fallow deer. Now and then a peb- 
bly beach held out a tempting lure to embark. Quiet, syl- 
van scenes opened up as we coasted along ; while frequent- 
ly our boat grazed over patches of water-lilies, arrowheads 
and other aquatic plants, or glided under the shade of "mos- 
sy banks " overhung with the dark foliage of the hemlock. 

Beneath us were myriads of the finny tribes, as we knew 
by the splash and ripples they made as they leaped to catch 
the unwary fly ; we could see deer quietly feeding on the 
lily-pads, and overhead wheeled flocks of wild water-fowl. 
"Here," exclaimed I, "here are the fabled Indian Gardens, 
and here will I pitch my tent in the wilderness." 

"While leisurely floating along, we came in sight of a plat 
of greensward, shaded by a grove of immense oaks, looking 
so cool and delicious, and wilhal so inviting, that I involun 



342 ACADIA 

tarily uttered an expatriation of surprise, and announced a 
determination to bivooao there for the night. I thought I 
detected an expression in Pierre that was unfavorable to my 
plan, but so enthusiastic was I, that I did not stop to con- 
sult him, otherwise I might never have told the following 
story. In a few moments the keel of our boat grated on 
the soft and yielding sand ; stepping on the beach we lifted 
the frail craft from the water, putting it down beside one of 
the druidical trunks. Leaving Pierre to prepare supper, I 
set out to reconnoiter. 

A little brook ran down the outer circle of the grove: 
the clearness of the water, and the mossy banks along which 
it flowed, struck my eye at once, and I prepared to cast my 
fly. "With varying fortune I ascended the stream a consid- 
erable distance, until it led me into what had once been a 
clearing. It was considerably overgrown with underbrush, 
but there were several gnarled apple trees, and remains of 
cellars ; and a further exploration revealed a little cemetery 
containing a number of graves, on one of which was a stone 
cross, overgrown with moss, and beaten with the storms of 
many winters. This, as I have since learned, is but a sam- 
ple of what may be seen in many of the out-of-way places 
in the Province. They are the relics of the fleeing Acadi- 
ans, who, in the memorable years of 1755-60, took refuge 
in these mountains to escape from the English who were re- 
morselessly hunting them from the territory, — grim me- 
mentoes of the sufferings of a sadly afflicted people ! 

It was near sundown when I returned. My faithful 
guide had dressed the grouse and had them spitted on long 
sticks stuck into the ground. The trout had been rolled in 
flour and were broiling on thin, flat stones laid on the coals. 
The odor of the coffee was cheering, and Pierre had pre- 
pared a surprise for me in the shape of a dessert of the wild 
berries which studded the rich vegetable mould over which 
we walked. 



LLGENDS 343 

" The stars had coine out as we finished our repast. We 
chose a choice bit of ground, collected some branches of a 
resinous fir for fuel, and trimmed spruce branches enough 
to make an elastic bed several inches in depth. The smoke 
of the camp-fire drove away the mosquitoes ; and, wrapped 
in our blankets, with the blaze lighting up the overhead 
foliage from beneath, until it glowed like a golden fret- work 
against the daik mossy trunks and tangled copse, we com- 
mitted ourselves to the god of slumber, testifying to the 
correctness of the observation that there is no completer 
comfort than a seat by the camp-fire, — no sweeter rest than 
when the boughs of the forest are both our bed and our 
eanopy. 

I know not how long I had been sleeping, when I was 
aroused by the strange movements of the dog. As I looked 
from under the blanket, he was sitting upon his haunches, 
his nose pointed toward a little cove bordered with alders, 
uttering low winnings not unlike the moanings of a human 
being, and occasionally breaking into a howl that gave rise 
to strange forebodings as they fell upon the ear in the silence 
of that lonely camp. 

" Be still, Carlo," said I, surmising the dog had heard 
the stealthy tread of some wild animal lurking in the bush- 
es. But the dog would not be still. Just then the guide, 
who had been awakened by the noise, pointed towards the 
little cove and abruptly exclaimed — 

"See there:" 

I looked as he indicated, and saw what made my blood 
curdle! There, not twenty feet from where we had been 
sleeping, were two figures in human form, a male and fe- 
male, in the act of launching a canoe. That they were not 
real persons was evident, as we could see objects through 
them as through mist, and their movements were of tnat 
airy sort that sets at naught the laws of gravitation. They 
were apparently hi great haste, frequently looking back as 



344 acavu 

if in fear of being followed. They seemed not to notice our 
proximity ; and, as soon as they were seated in their canoe, 
paddled swiftly out into the lake, and disappeared among 
the numerous islands, 

" We're on enchanted ground," exclaimed I, some time af- 
ter our strange visitants had departed, "and this explains 
your reluctance to pitch our camp here. Why didn't you 
tell me that lost spirits haunted this spot, and that we were 
likely to have visitors around our camp-fire other than those 
of flesh and blood?" 

" I coufess I didn't like the idea of stopping here, but I 
knew you would only laugh at me. I saw something one 
night, some years ago, when encamped in this very place, 
with no companion but my dog, something I never dared 
tell of," answered the guide. "I jumped into my boat and 
was miles away before morning, and I never visited the spot 
again until to-day. The dog, there, knows that something 
is around here that ought not to be ; see, how he trembles I 
Say, Carlo, what's the matter, hey ? " — and the noble beast, 
thus appealed to, came up to the guide, and, in his dog lan- 
guage, craved protection in the most piteous manner. 

"I saw indications of an old settlement just back of our 
camp ; were those spirit voyageurs that we just now saw, 
in any way associated with the tenants of those forgotten 
graves I stumbled over, and who for some cause are obliged 
to revisit the scenes of their active life ? They certainly did 
not seem like Indians," exclaimed I, half meditatively. 

"Yes," said the guide, "at least I have heard old hunters 
Bay so. The story has been told many a time but I can't 
say how much truth there is in it." 

"I'm too wide awake for sleep," I exclaimed, "and who 
knows but what our visitors will be back again prett} r soon. 
I propose, in tbat case, to scrape a closer acquaintance. In 
tbe meantime, let's nave the story I dare say it's a bloody 
adventure, or it wouldn't be necessary for those fellows to 




wsmt 




••There, not twenty feet from where we had been sleep- 
ing, were two figures launching a canoe.'*— Page 343. 



vs. ■-- -- 343 

the quiet of 1 : . and revisit the haunts of 

moment a piercing cry went up from the forest 
on the further shore of the lake, ending in a prolonged howl 
that echoed and reverberated among the woods, and then 

"It's scm c -lurgrv rait-f-r tli?.:'? _ 
of our supper." said Pierre. '"I heard him early in the eve- 
and I think he's working round this way. 31 
pay us a visit before morning." With these words the 
guide thiew a fresh lot of fuel oil the eoals, and immediate- 
ly the blaze caught among the dry branches, roaring aud 
leaping up, and sending the sparks high above the tree- tops. 
The huge oak trunks looked iik« grim sentinels in the flick- 
ering fire-light, and we almost expected to see the dusky 
forms of Indian warriors of old start up in fch e b m I : 
darkness, disturbed at our intrusion of their domains. — 
"While reposing at full length, gazing up at the canopy of 
leaves glowing overhead, and shrouding everything outside 
our fire-light in darkness, the following tale was told me. 

It was during that stormy peiiod when the French in- 
habitants of Nova Scotia were being forcibly driven from 
their homes, that a number of families at Annapolis E .. 
hearing of the fate of their countrymen at Grand Pre and 

sor, collected such of their goods as they c 
venieutly carry away, together with a portion of their s 
and fled to the mountains. It was with the greatest dtnr- 
fchey made their* way through the wools. E; : : - . : : 
the September storms of that latitude, with no shekel even 
at night., the more feeble among them soon died. A mother, 
with a sick babe at her breast, would toil on as best she 
couid ; the Xew England troops were in close pursuit, and 
B.o delay could be made ; giving the little darling one last 
embrace as its spirit took flight, she would hastily en rigii 
its body to the new-made grave, and in one short hour- would 
again join in the march. 



34& ACADIA 

The route taken by the refugees coulcl be followed by the 
newly-covered mounds, and the carcasses of the cattle and 
horses that were continually giving- out, and were left to 
their fate. It seemed as though the wild beasts for miles 
around had formed themse-ves inro a rear detachment; and 
the nights were made hideous with their howlings as they 
quarreled and fought over the remains of some poor cow or 
faithful horse that could go no farther. The fierce animals 
became so bold that they eveD menaced the camps ; no one 
dare stir out alone after nightfall, outside the light of their 
fires, for fear of being devoured. "What rendered their sit- 
uation still more helpless, they had no weapons for defense, 
their guns having been taken from them some time before, 
by order of the English Governor. 

In the midst of these difficulties, pursued by wild beasts 
and their still more implacable human foes, this band of 
refugees at length succeeded in reaching the vicinity of these 
lakes. At that time a powerful band of Micmac Indians 
nad put up their wigwams in this grove, who, taking the 
fleeing Acadian s under their protection, sent out a body of 
warriors and intercepted a detachment of Engash soldiers 
that had penetrated to within a short distance of this spot. 

The French refugees, believing themselves safe from fur- 
ther pursuit, commenced a settlement, the remains of which 
I had accidentally discovered the day before. By the help 
of the Indians, temporary log huts were erected ; a supply 
of fish was caught and dried for winter use; corn was fur- 
nished by the Indians and game supplied the balance of the 
food. Later, some of the young men visited Annapolis 
Royal, where thay had the good fortune to secure a quanti- 
ty of grain and flax that had escaped the general destruc- 
tion, and safely drove back a few head of cattle. By de- 
grees they made themselves comfortab.e houses ; the next 
Beason they set out apple orchards, currant bushes and oth- 
er fruits: gradually clearing away the forest, in the course 



LEGENDS 347 

of a few yenrs their condition was made tolerable — at any 
rate they were free. 

Among this community was a beautiful girl, who, agree- 
ably to the custom of the Acadians, had been early betrothed 
to the youth of her choice. Their nuptials were to be cel- 
ebrated at the next festival of St. Anne. In the exckement 
of their hasty departure, the absence of her lover was not 
noticed ; it was not known whether he was killed or ban- 
ished, or was with some other company of refugees. 

Rachel did not take to her loss kindly ; she brooded over 
his absence ; her cheek became pale, and her step less buoy- 
ant. In her grief she would not listen to the words of love 
from other young men, — her Joseph was uppermost in her 
thoughts. 

It chanced that a young Indian brave, noticing the maid 
had no lover, sought her to grace his own wigwam. The 
young Indian's father was chief of the tribe, and he had 
proved himself the friend of the white people. This chief 
espoused the suit of his son. 

"The white squaw has no love among the pale faces," 
argued the dusky chieftain, "let her keep the wigwam of 
one of my braves." 

The maid was inexorable ; white and red lovers were alika 
spurned from her. She seemed to cling to the hope that 
her ahlanced would yet seek her out. At length the chief as- 
sumed a haughty mien. Had not her people often received 
favors at his hands, and were they not in his power? 

This appeal touched the girl on a tender chord. What 
was life to her now ? Yes, she would be the bride of the 
young brave; she would yield herself a sacrifice for her 
people. 

Great were the preparations for the nuptials — worthy the 
marriage of a prince, and heir to the kingly sceptre. The 
young brave had embraced the Catholic belief, and had re- 
ceived the rite of baptism; the ceremony was to be solemnized 



348 ACADIA 

in accordance with that faith. The little chapel had been 
decorated expressly for the occasion, and the good Father, 
arrayed in gown and maniple, was engaged in his prepara- 
tory devotions in the chancel. Just outside the door, by 
the light of a huge bonfire, a party of young men and maid- 
ens, the young friends of Rachel, were dancing on the green. 
A little beyond, another fire had been kindled, and about 
this the young Indian warriors were celebrating their wed- 
ding feast. Grotesque and wild were the scenes there 
transpiring, — gross paganism, untutored superstition, and 
the solemn forms of religious rites, intermingled ! 

Just then a stranger entered Rachel's cottage, and asked 
to see her alone. They were no sooner together than the 
visitor threw off his disguise, and the maiden was clasped 
in the arms of her long-absent lover. A few words sufficed 
to tell his story. 

He had been taken by the New England forces, and, 
with two hundred other captives, confined on board a ves- 
sel of little more than sixty tons burden. They were kept 
in the close hold, only a few being allowed on deck at one 
time, for fear they might attempt to take the vessel from 
their captors. With no other food than a small allowance of 
flour and pork, they endured a three-month's voyage to the 
city of Philadelphia. Their physical sufferings, great as 
they were in their crowded state, were not to be compared 
with the mental anguish at being separated from friends, it 
having pleased the English conquerors, for some unex- 
plained cause, to add the breaking of family ties to the hor- 
rors of this forced extirpation. One mother on board had 
but one of her four children with her. Of the fate of the 
other three, or of the subsequent fortunes of the husband 
and father, she never afterward had the slightest trace. — 
And yet hers was but the common experience. 

Many of the sufferers died on the passage. The clothing 
of the survivors became so worn as scarcely to cover them 



LEGENDS 



349 



An epidemic, too, broke out on shipboard, just before reach- 
ing port; but such was the horror of the authorities there 
against the Papists, that it was sever J. days before they 
were permitted to remove from the infected atmosphere of 
the ship. 

At Philadelphia, Joseph had found opportunity to join 
a number of his countrymen in some open boats, in which 
they proposed to return to their native land. At Eoston 
they were stopped by the patriotic Governor, and their 
boats destroyed. From thence he had traveled on foot and 
in ( anoes through the forests of Maine and New Brunswick, 
until he reached the vicinity of his former home. In all his 
wanderings his purpose had been to hnd tidings of Rachel, 
but he had sought in vain. After he had nearly given up ail 
hope, he heard of this settlement in the mountains, and had 
ariived just as the object of his fondest affections was about; 
throwing herself away on a savage I But, now that he had re- 
turned, nothing should again part them. 

Calling the famiiy together the situation was made known. 
The Indian brave would not voluntarily give up his bride, 
and they knew the haughty chief would treat such a proposal 
as a disgrace to his tribe, and deserving of his vengeance. 
Their only plan was to fly. Their chance of escape was 
small indeed, but they would rather die than be separated. 

Their preparations were soon made, and silently and se- 
cretly they fled into the dark forest, and reached their ca- 
noe moored at the little cove at our feet. In the meantime, 
the ceremonials had reached the point at which the bride 
was to come forth, and rive young girls, dressed in white, 
with garlands about their heads, came to conduct Eachel to 
the chapel. The father by sundry pretexts, delayed the 
proceedings until the suspicions and anger of the old chief 
was aroused, when threats of instant vengeance drew from 
the agonized father the fact that she had lied with her for- 
mer lover. 



350 ACJDIA 

Such a mark of ignominy as this to be cast on his son — 
the son uf a proud Indian chief — was not to be borne. The 
order for immediate pursuit is given ; the festivities cease, 
and dusky warriors are threading the forest in every direc- 
tion for the fugitives. Certain death, and possibly worse 
torture, will follow their capture. 

A wild shout announced the lovers had been discovered. 
The hearts of the parents sank as these sounds resounded 
through the moonlit forest ; the anguish of the mother dur- 
ing the succeeding moments, while the issue of the pursuit 
was unknown, and the wild uproar rose and sank on the 
night air, was intense, defying description. 

Joseph and Rachel were far out on the lake. The girl 
was quick with the paddle, and their canoe was rapidly 
speeding to the opposite shore. A sense of their situation 
lent supernatural strength to their arms, and they plied their 
oars as only those can who race for life. 

The canoes of the savages were already in the water, and 
a score of brawny forms were urging them forward in close 
pursuit, while the lake echoed with terrific yells. 

For awhile, the lovers managed to elude their pursuers, 
and successfully baffled every attempt at capture. Their 
strength, now, was beginning to flag under the intense and 
long continued strain. Gradually they had been n earing 
th^ outlet of the lake ; the lovers thought if they could but 
reach the shadow of yonder island, they might make good 
their escape down the river. They soon came into the in- 
fluence of the current of the stream, and had the satisfac- 
tion of perceiving their boat was being impelled rapidly for- 
ward, as they hoped, to a place of safety. 

A loud shout announced they had been discovered j and 
the canoes of the savages poured into the rive% and were 
gaining so fast on the fugitives that the foremost was nearly 
up to their boat. Twice had Joseph picked up his gun to 
shoot, but Rachel remonstrated by telling him it would on- 



LEGENDS 351 

It make their condition worse in ease they were afterwards 
overtaken: and in any even:, the- savages would be certain 
to visit retribution on ber parents. 

The lovers now gave up all hope. They threw down their 
paddles, and. falling into each other's arms, a lowed their 
canoe to drift. They noted net the speed at which they 
were £oinsr. and were in momentary expectation of being 
overtaken. It was not until some moments had elapsed that 
they became aware the savages had stopped pursuit. — 
The intensity of their emotions had prevented their divin- 
ing the cause until a turn in the river brought the roar of 
the falls full upon their ears. 

Under other circumstances, the sound would have terrified 
them; as it was they looked upon death in this form as a 
providential interposition. Should they try to avoid going 
over the falls, as they might still dc, it would only prolong 
their lives to give the angry savages a chance to put them 
to death by slow torture. "Let me but die in your arms." 
said the maid. u and I am content." Not a paddle was lift- 
ed to avert the clanger. "May the Lord bless father, and 
mother, and little sister Maud." were the last words she ut- 
tered. Locked in a last embrace, they drew near the fatal 
brink — took their last look of earth — and the boat, with the 
lover and maid, disappeared from sight forever! 

At each anniversary of the event, at a certain hour of the 
night, two ghostly forms come to this little cove, launch 
their canoe and paddle into the lake. Their actions 
cute great haste and anxiety; their canoe floats awhile 
among the islands and passe? into the river. As they near 
the rapids they drop their- psdenes, embrace each other, and 
disappear ever the brink. This is done three nights in suc- 
cession: then they are ailowei a period of repose. 

-Pierre.'* said I. after this narration. U I propose to lie in 
wait to-morrow night, and i; this lover and his maid pay us 
ano.Lt- visit) I am going to see whether they are of real 



352 ACADTA 

flesh and blood, or whether it's only a fancy of our brains." 
Then, having- piled a fresh quantity of fuel on the fire, we- 
once more rolled our blankets about us and fell asleep. 

It was about the bewitching hour of twelve of the night 
following, that Pierre and I took our places in our skiff,, 
and moored it at the foot of the little cove where our strange 
visitors were to embark f leaving the dog, Carlo, to look af- 
ter the camp, "This is a -strange vigil we are keeping," I 
remarked, *' watching for the spirits of the departed to re- 
visit the earth ! Here we T ve been waiting a full hour, and I 
think they intend to disappoint us. What T s the matter, 
Carlo, what do you see ? " 

The dog had again set up his moaning as on the previous 
night, and his eyes seemed immovably fixed on the cove be-- 
fore us. Though we could see nothing unusual, the supe- 
rior instincts of the dog enabled him to perceive that some- 
thing out of the common order was prowling about our 
camp. A quick exclamation from the guide startled me. 

There, not twenty feet away, two figures were in the act 
of launching a canoe. They exhibited the same undue baste 
as on the night before; seating themselves, they dipped 
their paddles into the water, and before we had recovered 
from our surprise, they were several yards into the lake. 

"Pierre," I exclaimed, "let's overtake them, or smash an 
oar," — -and we bent to our work. Now gliding under the 
shadow of a wooded island, then darting across an open 
channel; now close at hand, and the next moment rods 
away, — sped the phantom boat and its ghostly crew. Our 
light skiff fairly quivered with the powerful strokes of our 
oars, given with the impulse that strong excitement lent us. 
After a half hoar's hard pulling, we were fain to admit; we 
were losers in the race, and very soon we lost sight of them 
altogether. We were on the point of returning to ramp, 
when the guide, pointing in the direction of the outlet of 
'the lake, exclaimed — 



LEGE>T)S 353 

"There they are, in the river! " 

Kve way! Pierre," I fairly yelled, "give way! We'll see 
whether real bone and sinew is not a match for anything 
that floats in these waters;" and sure enough, a few rapid 
strokes with all the force we could exert, brought us close 
to the strangers. I had dropped my paddle, and, turning 
partly around in my seat, was preparing to clutch at the oc- 
cupants of the canoe, when my arm was arrested by a cry of 
terror from the guide. 

So intent had we been on the pursuit, that neither had 
noticed our proximity to the falls, until we were already 
being urged forward by that powerful suction that sweeps 
everything over the brink. Pierre had discovered this, and 
though he said not an intelligible word, I comprehended 
the meaning of his cry. I instantly grasped my oar; the 
next moment we were doing our utmost to force the boat 
out of the channel toward the shore. Life and death were 
in the balance, and for a time, we neither gained nor lost in 
our battle :■ ruthless current. If oar and row-lock 

were taxed before, it was nothing to the light we then made 
for life. At la>t it was evident we bad discovered our dan- 
ger too late. 

"It's no use!" exclaimed my companion, and his tones 
showed that he fully realized the danger we were in, "we've 
got to go over them fails ! " 

The roar of the cataract became momentarily more dis- 
tinct, and trees and other objects on shore were darting by 
with incredible swiftness. Our fac^s cut the sprav as with 
a knife, while the rapid motion of the boLing current was 
fast becoming more and more perceptible. Nearer and 
nearer we diew to the brink; I felt that Pierre was guid- 
ing the boat to where the water was smoothest — even a: 
moment not resigning all hop? : next I saw the yawning 

- below ms ; then came a >cnse of falling, down, down 

and then I lost consciousne — . 

w 



354 AC4DIA 

"When I caine to myself, Pierre was bending over me. He 
had unaccountably gained liie shore at tbe bottom of the 
falls, and had it not been for bis strong arm, I should not 
this winter evening have been writing this story. We sat 
down on the river bank, in our dripping garments, and min- 
utes elapsed before either said a word. The wiidness of 
the place, the dim moonlight, the roar of the falls, and the 
well-nigh fatal ending of oar adventure, for a time overpow- 
ed us. I first broke the silence. 

"I wonder if any person ever went over those falls before 
to-night, and came out alive and unhurt?" 

" Not that I ever heard of," said Pierre, "and all the world 
wouldn't tempt me to go through with that again." Then 
we threaded our way back to camp. 

u Where's the dog," said I, as we came within the circle 
of light thrown out by the expiring camp-fire, and the faith- 
ful animal was nowhere to be seen. '* i never knew him to 
desert a camp before, when it was left in his charge. How, 
what's this? Bring along one of those blaz.ug pine knots, 
Pierre ! " 

There lay our faithful dog, covered in blood, and his flesh 
literally torn in shreds. He was yet alive, and a look of in- 
telligent recognition beamed from his eyes as we bent over 
him. And I actually thought the noble animal tried to tell 
us what had happened to him while we were absent. He 
expired shortly in gieat agony ; and his death caused a paug 
in our hearts, akin to that one experiences at the loss of a 
brother. 

M It's a loup-garou that did that. T'ain't none of your 
common wild varmints : come, we musn't stay here ! " And 
the strong man, whose face never blanched in his repeated 
encounters with the bear and the panther, trembled with 
fear as he spoke. "I tell you we've got to get out of this," 
and he began to gather up our traps. I perceived it would 
be of no use to object. 



LEGENDS 355 

"It will never do io kave Carlo unbrried," said I, for I 
could not free ray mind from the idea that I was somehow 
culpably responsible for his death. " Carlo met his death at 
his post of duty, and he is at least deserving of Christian 
burial, beyond the reach of those hungry panthers." 

We soon found a cleft in a rock, in which we tenderly 
laid the body of our faithful hound, and walled up the open- 
ing with a few heavy stones ; then hastily picking up our 
camp-equipage — our rifles were in the river at the bottom 
of the falls — and taking each a brand from the camp-fire, we 
bade adieu to Spirit Camp. We had not gone many yards, 
when a terrific cry broke upon the night. Looking over 
our shoulders towards our late camp, from which direction 
the sound seemed to come, we saw a strange light among 
the trees, which I attributed to a reviving of the embers of 
our lire. But Pierre accounted for it differently. 

*' There's the loups-garous, coming together ai our camp. 
It's lucky for us we got away when we did." 



POPULAK BELIEFS. 



It was on one of those fine northern Acadian twilights 
in the month of June — St. John s Eve, by the calendar — that 
Pierre and I were strolling by the river bank, inhaling the 
fragrance that was borne up from the apple trees in full 
bloom, and enjoying the cooling sea breeze that was blow- 
ing off the bay. 

" What are those bonfires that I see, Pierre, at various 
poiuts along the river ? " 

"Those are St. John's Eve fires," answered the guide. 

Upon further enquiry in relation to the fires, I learned 
that they pertained to a custom formerly prevalent here, but 
which is fast dying out. The people build a pile of fragrant 
boughs outside the church, and as darkness sets in, the 
priest appeal's, recites the prayers, blesses the wood, and 
sets it on fire in the presence of the congregation. Tbe 
lesser ones were signal fires, by which neighbors, living 
miles apart, report to each other. If all is well, a bright 
fire is lighted and kept burning; if sickness has visited tbe 
family, the fire flickers and dies out ; if death, then the pile 
suddenly bursts into flame, and is as suddenly extinguished. 
For some time we watched the fires — some burning bright- 
ly, others slowly expiring, or quickly disappearing — and 
pictured to our imagination the varied experiences of joy 
and sorrow portrayed by this singularly impressive "fire- 
language." 






LIGZSDS 357 

The soj earner among these remote French hamlets will 
ur-et with the same manners, customs and modes of dress 
that prevailed among their ancestors a hundred years ago. 
Their devotedness to the forms of worship of their fore- 
fathers, and their firm, faith in the muacolous events as- 
cribed to the intercession of their patron saints, are among 
the most distinctive traits of the Acadian de 
short, the religious fervor of the French habitant has ever been 

I jnal characteristic. On April 11, 1782. says the : _• 
lark tesa prevailed on the Saguenay River, the he. 
mourning for the death of a Jesait, Father Jean B&_ isle 
Lacrosse, who died at Tadousac on that day. Father La- 
brosse was a native of Poitou. He arrived at Quebec in 
1754, and for nearly thirty years preached the gospel to 

e men and Indians along the St. Lawrence and down 
in the wilds ot Acadia. On the night of his death he was 
at the house of an c nicer of the trading-post at Tadousac, 
and, although nearly seventy years old, appeared to be a3 

. g and hearty as a man of forty. He was tali and robust, 
and his long white hair and saintly face made him look ev- 
e:y inch an apostle. At niLe t. m. he rose, and in solemn 
tones told his triends that the hour of his death was at hand. 
At midnight he should die, and the church beli at Tadousac 
would announce the news to his Indian children, who were 
camped there for the spring trade in peltries and to ail the 
Gulf. He bade the company tareweil, charging thern, as 
be left the house, to go to Iie-aux-Coudres and bring Father 
Compain, the cure, to give his body Christian sepulture. 
The | arty sat in silence, listening for the bells, which on 
the stroke of midnight began to toll. The village was 
aroused, and the people hurried to the chapel, and there 
befoie the altar, lay the old Jesuit, dead They watched 
by the corpse until daylight, when the post office* ordered 
four men to take a canoe and go to Iie-aui- [fondles A 
fearful storm was raging in the Gulf, and ice foes almost 



358 ACADIA 

choked the wide expanse of water. "Fear not," said the 
officer to the fishermen; "Father Labrosse will protect 
you." They launched the canoe, and great was their sur- 
prise to find that, while the tempest howled and the waves 
and the ice seethed like a caldron on each side of them, a 
peaceful channel was formed by some invisible hand for 
their craft. They reached Iie-aux-Coudres — over sixty miles 
as the crow flies, from Tadousac — without accident. Fa- 
ther Compain was standing on the cliff, and, as they neared 
the shore, he cried out, "Father Labrosse is dead, and you 
have come to take me to Tadousac to bury him ! " How 
did he know this? The night previous he was sitting alone 
in his house, reading his breviary, when suddenly the bell 
in the churcn (dedicated to St. Louis) began to toll. He 
ran down to tne church, but the doors were locked, and 
when he opened them he found no one within, and stiii the 
passing bell was tolling. As he approached the altar, Fa- 
ther Compain heard a voice saving, "Father Labrosse is 
dead. This beJ announces his departure. To-morrow do 
thou stand at the lower end of the island and await the ar- 
rival of a canoe from Tadousac. Return with it and give 
him burial." And at all the mission posts where Father 
Labrosse had preached — Ohicoutimi, l'lle Verte, Trois- 
Pistoles, Eimouski, and along the Baie-des-Chaieurs — the 
bells, of their own accord, rang out the death of the old 
Jesuit at the same hour. And for many a year, whenever 
the Indians of Saguenay visited Tadousac, tney made a 
pilgrimage to his giave, and whispered to the dead within 
through a hole in the slab of the vault, believing that he 
would lay their petitions before God. 

"Perhaps," said Pierre, after a silence of some minutes, 
"you have never heard of the strange lights of the river, 
La Magdelaine > % You won't find a sailor, born in these 
parts, wlio would be caught there aione at night for all the 
world. There are pale blue lights and green lights play- 



ing on the water, and the d al cries are heard I - 

such as you don't care to hear but ence. They are not 
like the lights you see here, and no one knows wna: they 
are, but are supposed to be the troubled spirits of mer. 
have been drover 1 unong the i ] 

The folk lore of the inhabitants of the Gaspe coast is dis- 
tinctive in its features. The phosphorescent glow of the 
water is a; I to supe: agency, and the tnoan- 

i g : - the surf among the hollow caverns at the I 
sea wail, is thought to be the voice of the murderer. 
demned to expiate his crime on tne very spot tnat witnessed 
amission; for it is well known that the G ispe wreck- 
i ■ - _. : always contented themselves with rebbe: - 
pillage, but have sometimes sought concealment by m*fcjr»g 
way with victims — convinced that the tomb records no se- 
It was on these shores that Walker's fleet encoun- 
tered that terrific August ga!e. Says the chrcnicle: 

On the 30th of July, 1711, Sir Hovenden Walker, in 
command of a formidable armada, : insisting of men-of-war 
and transports carrying troops, saued from Nantasket Reads 

3C, fat the purpose ::' rapturing thai post 
ri enging the repulse of Sir William Phippsin 1690. Pai 
master on a Eochelle gunboat that had been captured by the 
British frigate Chester, was put on board the flagship, Ed- 
gar, as pilot, for he knew the St. Lawrence well. A dense 
; g titled down upon the fleet after :: left ■_-. : s i Bay; and 
d p. x. on Aug oat 22 1. M we found om selves writes A 1- 
miral Walker, in his Journal, k *upon the North Shore, 
■moogst rocks and islands, at least fifter_ Keagi as farther 
than tliT log gave, when :_r wh deflect had like t* hai ebeen 
lost. But by God's good providence all the men-of-war, 
though with extreme hazard and difficulty, escaped. Eight 
transports were cast away, and almost men 

The beach of Z 5 _ Island and the 1 shore 

nardby wei e stre --n with bodies. Two companies .: auards 



360 ACADIA 

who had fought under Marlborough in the Low Countries, 
were identified among the dead by their scarlet trappings* 
Mother Juchereau, in the Hotel Dieu, records in her diary 
that a salvage expedition, fitted oat at Quebec, found two 
thousand corpses on Egg Island. Some said the French 
pilot had willfully wrecked the fleet. The clergy held that 
it was the work of the Blessed Virgin, and the name of the 
church of Notre Dame de la Victoire in the Lower Town, 
where Phipps's repulse was annually celebrated, was changed 
to Notre Dame des Victoires, to commemorate both occa- 
sions. But while the habitants doubted not the power or 
the beneficence of the Blessed Virgin, they ascribed the im- 
mediate causation of the wreck to Jean Pierre Laval; ee of 
St. Fraugois. When it became known at Quebec that Queen 
Anne was fitting out the expedition, he bade the people be 
of good heart. When the news of the disaster reached Que- 
bec, he said that Sir Hovendon had not drained his cup of 
bitterness; and sure enough, while the Admiral was on his 
way to London to repoit the disaster, the Edgar, seventy 
guns, blew up at Portsmouth, and all on board, 470 souls, 
perished. 

" But what are those smaller lights I see, Pierre, down on 
the island, that keep moving about as if carried in the hand ; 
are they the torches of the eel fishers?" 

" No ; they are the lamps of the money diggers," was the 
reply. 

"Money diggers!" said I, "who are they?" 

" Why, to be sure, that's a regular business in these parts," 
said Pierre. " A great many of the Neutrals buried their spe- 
cie before they were carried off, and it's not an unusual 
thing to find buried money. Those fellows down there are 
searching for some of Capt. Kidd's treasures, which, it is 
said, were hid somewhere near Dead Man's Cove. The place 
is so named, because Capt. Kidd killed one of his men and 
buried him with the money to guard it." 



LT3ZVI5 381 

"T: ■:.-. 3:e:.3r-: . :. : '.::r n:r.e-! " *-..::*. I. "^r.i: p: :1 
:cal:I a : : .eaa zian a~ :;• ^aris _ : : ::::::: :ie t.eisare. please 
tell ne ■" 

dv," answered be, surprised at my incredulity, Til tell 
you what happened one night over at the foot of that hill 
v;a see j;_aer. Three nei ~ere i;r_rir__- :■:: a :::: 0: 
Spanish dollars, that a fortune-teller said was buried there. 
They worked like beavers for three nights, when, about one 
o'clock of the third night, their shovels struck something 
they found to be the lid of a stone crock. They lifted up 
the cover, and there, sure enough, were the shining pieces, 
filling the crock clear up to the top. The night was clear 
a_:". .a'.n. -::_:;.: : :'.:::'. :: '.: e seen. W_ile fiej ~e:e 
:::_-_:i t - a '.:::'.:■ 5eer.er so as : :■ take 01: ■:.::_: an:: ah. the 
shovel struck a human skuIL And such a flash of lightning 
and peal of thunder as then came forth they never saw or 
heard before. The wind, too, began to blow a hurricane, 
and overset their lantern and blew out the light, at the same 
time knocking over the man who held it. This so scared 
them that they took to their heels. On coming back the 
Lei: _:::a:, :he;r 0:1. :i s^e ^ie:e :be c: : :-k ia:I beer. Tak- 
en out, but saw nothing of it or the money. That crock 
was put there by pirates, and was guarded by the man they 
killed and buried with it, and he made it lighten and thun- 
der to keep them from carrying off the monej " 

"Is there no way to exorcise the spirit of the watcher, 
s: \s :: _ r. a: :ae ireasa. e ■ " er-rairea I. 

i'es, there are some that know how, or at least pretend 
they do. They say, if one of the party that's digging gets 
killed, then the spell is broken; but they don't often try 
that plan. The usual way is for the company to take with, 
them one who understands how to manage the watcher so 
as to get at tne money." 

"But you say they often do find money buried about 
here?" 



362 ACADIA 

"Yes, tbat is where the money is buried alone. We often 
hear of Frenchmen coming back who go to digging, and 
nearly always find money. They have charts and mineral 
rods with them, to show where to dig. I've heard say they 
sometimes have Spanish needles, but I never saw one. The 
needles are much better than the rods, for they tell specie 
from ore, and the rods do not. Some years ago two French- 
men came to my father's and asked to stay all night. We 
offered them a nice bed in the house, but in spite of all we 
could say and do, they would sleep in the barn. The next 
morning early we went out, when nothing was to be seen of 
the Frenchmen. But we picked up two Spanish dollars 
that they dropped on the floor. This set us to looking, 
and we found that the plate over the great doors had been 
hollowed out, and a board nicely fitted as a cover ; in this 
hollow the money had been secreted for years. I once heard 
of a company that engaged with a land-holder on Cainpo- 
belio Island, to dig for buried money, agreeing to pay him 
a certain part of all the money they found. The first sum- 
mer they worked several months without success ; the next 
season they came again, and again went away empty-handed. 
Not yet discouraged, they went to work again the third 
summer. One day the owner thought he would go down 
to where they were digging, and was surprised to find no 
one there. They had all deserted the place, taking their 
tools with them. Upon examination he discovered they had 
found the money, and had secretly made off with it with- 
out paying him his share." 

" I presume you have numerous instances among you, of 
people becoming suddenly rich, who have luckily hit upon 
the hiding place of buried treasure," said I. 

" Yes, but they of tener get rich from stripping wrecks af- 
ter a storm ; but that's a business that can't be followed 
like it used to be. That house you see beyond those trees, 
why. its owner got rich in a single night, but he never would 



LEGENDS 



363 



say how be came by the money. I'll wager I wouldn't take 
it and have that rnaa's conscience to carry with me as long 
as I lived. I've a mind to tell you the story of a sea cap- 
tain who made lots of money ; he afterward got found out 
and had to leave the country. It has already been in print, 
but then it's none the worse for that. It is one of the 
bloody stories of Sable Island, about which so many are 
told." 

Sable Island, rendered memorable by reason of number- 
less melancholy shipwrecks, lies directly in the track of ves- 
sels bound to or from Europe. Lying low in the water, par- 
tially clad with bent grass, it is not easily distinguished from 
the deep green of the surrounding sea. Its surface and 
contour is continually undergoing a change, from the com- 
bined action of wind and wave : — the spot where the first 
superintendent dwelt is now more than three miles in the 
sea, and three fathoms of water break upon it. Those who 
have not personally witnessed the effect of a storm upon this 
lonely isle in mid-ocean, can form no adequate idea of its hor- 
rors. The reverberated thunder of the sea when it strikes this 
attenuated line of sand, on a front of thirty miles, is truly 
appalling ; and the vibration of the island under its mighty 
pressure, seems to indicate that it will separate and be borne 
away into the ocean. 

The whole of the south end is covered with timber, which 
has been torn from wrecks and driven on shore by the vio- 
lence of the sea. At the two extremities are dangerous bars : 
the northwest bar sixteen miles long and a mile and a half 
in width, over the whole of which the sea breaks in bad 
weather ; that on the northeast of equal width and twenty- 
eight miles long, which, in storms, forms one continuous line 
of breakers. 

Herds of wild horses roam over the island, a few of which 
are taken every year and sent to Halifax. Years ago it sup- 
ported hundreds of wild hogs — the progeny, no doubt, of 



364 ACADIA 

swine cast ashore from some wrecked vessel; these all per- 
ished during an unusually severe winter. It has not been 
thought advisable to renew this species of stock, in view of 
the fact that not only have human bodies formed an article 
of their food, but many living persons, weak and helpless 
from cold and exposure, have often escaped from wrecks on- 
ly to be devoured alive by these fierce brutes. 

A boat runs once a year between the island and Halifax, 
chartered by the Canadian government to carry provisions 
and stores to the lignthouse people and patrols, and bring 
away people who may have been wrecked there during the 
previous year. As many as three hundred people have been 
on the island at one time — cast upon those lonely sands by 
marine disaster. It was found necessary to bring into requi- 
sition the strong arm of the government to protect the 
wrecks from persons who went there for the purpose of 
plundering ; — it was made a criminal offense with a penalty of 
six years' imprisonment, to be found voluntarily residing on 
the island without a license. 

"Should any one be visiting the island now, he might 
first discern, at a few miles distance, a half-dozen low hum- 
mocks on the horizon. On his approach these gradually re- 
solve themselves into hills fringed by breakers, next the 
white sea-beach with its continued surf,— the sand-hills, part 
naked, part waving in grass of deep sea green, unfold them- 
selves, — while here and there along the wild beach lie the 
ribs of unlucky traders half buried in the shifting sand. — 
The first thing the visitor does is to mount the flag-staff 
and scan the scene. The ocean bounds him everywhere. 
On the foreground the outpost men are seen galloping their 
rough ponies into headquarters, recalled by the flag flying 
over his head. The West-end house of refuge, with bread 
and matches, firewood and kettle, and also with its flag-staff, 
occupies an adjoining hill. Every sandy peak or grassy 
knoll with a dead man's name or an old ship's tradition: — 



385 

Trctfs Core, Baker's Hill, French Gardens, — traditiona- 
ry Bpoi where the poor convicts expiated their social crimes — 
t^e iiti.e bmying-ground consecrated to the repose of many 
a sea-tossed limb, — and at various points down the lake, 
other lookout stations, each with its house of refuge and 
fLig-staf£, complete the view." 

Some less than a century ago, this lone waif of the ocean 
was much resorted I : by fishermen. "With the increase of 
commerce came a corresponding increase of wrecks : : I 
at this period that the cupidity of men of infamous eharac- 
te: was excited, and numbers of pirates and wi .^rest- 

ed the island. Few who survived shipwreck ana esca- 
its inhospitable shores, ever lived to bear their story to the 
mainland. Soon dark s:::.zs wane being circulated of hor- 
rible deeds there committed, and Sable Island became an 
ul-cmened name. [Many an adventurer embarked on a clan- 
destine voyage, and returned not long after to exhibit untold 
wealth. Here, secure from the reach of the law, and pro- 
:1 by the very elri_T_:s that brought the unfortunate 
wrecks into their power, these human ghouls plied their 
calling with immense success. 

iiaLy years ago the Amelia Transport was wrecked on 
these shores. The vessel conveyed some members of the 
. family, and was represented as having on board con- 
sole treasure. The talk got abroad that the passen- 
b r: -. ind crew xeL into the hands of piiates, and all that es- 
3 drowning were murdered. Captain Totrens was sen! 
to enquire into the truth of the reports, and he too Buffered 
shipwieck on the coast, escaping with only a part of his 
While looking about the island he came to a shantj 
known as the M smoky hut" His dog began to growl and 
bark as though he saw something in the hut ; on looking 
within, he beheld a iady clad in white, all wet and dripping 
■s :: she had jus: been rolled isihare in the surf. The Cap- 
tail s~:keto her: she answered not a word uut held u£ 



ACADIA 

the bleeding stump of her fore-finger. He ran for the sur- 
geon's chest, and went up to her to bind up her wound ; but 
she slipped past him and ran out of the door, the Captain 
following and begging her to stop. She kept on running 
until she came to a lake in the center of the island, when 
she dove head foremost into it. So he walked slowly back; 
and coming near the hut, he saw the same lady again with- 
in, holding up her finger as before. 

Looking awhile at her pale, wet face, the Captain thought 
he recognized her features as one whom he supposed to be 
' drowned on the Transport, and he began to question her. 

"Is tbat you, Lady Copeland? " said he. The lady bowed 
" Yes," and then held up her finger. 

"And the pirates murdered you to get that ring!" Once 
more the lady bowed "Yes," again holding up the bleeding 
s«unip. Then the Captain swore he would hunt the villains 
out, and return the ring to her family. This seemed to 
please her, for she smiled, and disappeared into the lake as 
before. 

The Captain was good as his word. He tracked one of 
the most noted pirates down to the coast of Labrador, made 
the acquaintance of his wife and family, and without excit- 
ing any suspicion as to his purpose, learned that the dia- 
mond ring had been left at a watchmaker's shop in Halifax 
to be sold. He went to Halifax, purchased the ring, and 
sent it home to the lady's friends, as he had promised to do. 



APPENDIX. 



Messrs. Apthorp & Hancock to Francis Peirey, Dr. 

To hire of Sloop Ranger, myself master, from 
20th August 1755 to the 30th January, 
1756, including 10 davs for his return, is 
5 months 10 days, at £48 10 8 p. month. £258 16 10 

Pilott 60s. pr. month, 16 





274 16 10 


To cash pd. for provisious at Maryland, to supply 




208 French persons, after the provisions 




reed, from Air. Saul were expended vizt. 




Flour 59 3 2 at 14s. £41 16 8 




Bread 20 22 at 18s. 18 3 8 




Beef 12 1 9 at 20s. 12 6 3 




Pork 6 1 19 at 20s, 6 8 4 




"Wood 3 Cord at 14s. 2 2 




pd. Horse hire & expenses to go to the 




Governor when sent for 4 




84 16 11 




Deduct 20 p. cent 16 19 3 






67 17 8 



To the passages of 81 persons more than the 

Complement, of 2 to ton at 4s. 6d. 18 4 6 



Fraxcis Peieey. £360 19 

[The above is a truthful transcript of a bill, copied from 
the Nova Scotia Archives, which relates to the transporta- 
tion of the Neutral French from the Province. We give it 



368 ACALIA 

a place here as it seems to confirm the assertion made by 
the Neutrals that they were crowded into cue vessels in a 
cruel and barbarous manner. The sloop, Ranger, assaowD 
in the bill, had on board 208 persons, which was bl .nore 
than her complement of 2 persons to a ton. Deducting the 
81, we find her allotted complement to be 127, wb.ch would 
make the Ranger to be a small sloop of little more than 
sixty tons burden. By directions of Governor Lawrence, 
they were to be confined in the holds of the vessels, lest 
they should seize an opportunity to overpower the crew. 
Those who are familiar with the measurement of vessels 
will readily understand whether the dictates of humanity 
were consulted in this forced embarkation of the sufferers, 
or whether the fearful mortality, which in a few weeks re- 
duced their numbers to one-half, was more than might 
have been expected.] 



RsnxEoa ot ehs keutraxs :d the ktsg of gezat eritais. 



To Lis most excellent Majesty, i^ing of Great Britain, &c, 

The bumble ts, the !ate French in- 

::. formerly settled on the Bay :: 
5. and rivers thereunto belonging ; qow re idh _ in the 
:r. ceh:-.I: -•: tie r <rlve; 
. _. jf the said bay, » I ;-. Isc :: those 
formerly settle ". ::: tl - E:ver ci Abe >] : Royal, whereso- 
lisj ersed May il | lease your 7-r-v ■■■ 
It is i : se act Hie con- 

:": his ape hi b jar ancestors firsl ; - fled in Nova Sco- 
tia, undei the j rtection of sessors, as 
Ehegre . _- -.--_ elders ~_: were acquainted 

are lead; ::: nore especial]] 
onr papers, which contained our : 

by violei afore the 

strophe which has been the occasion of the ca- 
r dow ond a : but we always understood the 
E to be from an agreement made between 
^ ccmmandeisin N ia, and our fore- 

fathers, abont the year 1713, whereby th ; were permitted 
fco remain in possession of then ler an oath of fi- 

delity be the British government, — ith in exemption from 
ng arms, and tie a-:~ anee of tae free exer ase :: then: 
i m. 
It is a matter :: sertainty, and within the Bompass :: 
:: ::. memories, that in the yea: . ..t: -._ !-_:!- 

1: ps, the Governor of Nova Scoria, lid. in yoni 

as. : :. 1 all I tants of the 

:x 3Iinas and rivers thereunto belonging, 



5T ACADIA 

the free and entire possession of those lands we were then 
possessed of; which by grants from the former French gov- 
ernment, we held to us and our heirs forever, on payiug the 
customary quit-rents, &c. And on condition that we should 
behave with due submission and fidelity to your Majesty, 
agreeable to the oaih which was then administered to us, 
which is as follows, viz. : 

" We sincerely promise and swear, by the faith of a Chris- 
tian, that we shall be entirely faithful, and will truly sub- 
mit ourselves to his Majesty King George, whom we ac- 
knowledge as Sovereign Lord of New Scotland, or Acadia; 
so God help us." 

And at the same time, the said General Phillips did, in 
like manner, promise the said French inhabitants, in your 
Majesty's name, u That they should have the true exercise of 
their religion, and be exempted from bearing arms, and 
from being employed in war, either against the French or 
Indians." Under the sanction of this solemn engagement 
we held our lands, made further purchases, annually pay- 
ing our quit-rents, &c. ; and we had the greatest reasou to 
couclude, that your Majesty did not disapprove of the above 
agreement : and that our conduct continued, during a long 
course of years, to be such as recommended us to your gra- 
cious protection, and to the regard of the Governor of New 
England, appeal's from a printed declaration, made seven- 
teen years aiter this time, by his Excellency William Shir- 
ley, Governor of New England, which was published and 
dispersed in our country, some originals of which have es- 
caped from the general destruction of most of our papers, 
part of which is as follows : 

By his Majesty's command, 

A declaration of William Shirley, Esq., Captain-General 
and Governor-in-Chief, in and over his Majesty's Province 
of Massachusetts Bay, &c. 

To his Majesty's subjects, the French inhabitants of No- 
va Scotia : Whereas, upon being informed that a report 
had been propagated among the French inhabitants of his 
Province of Nova Scotia, that there was an intention to re- 
move them from their settlements in that Province, I did, 
by my declaration, dated 16th September, 1746, signify to 
them that the same was groundless, and that I was, on the 
contrary, persuaued that His Majesty would be graciously 



&FTESDIX 371 

pleased to extend his royal protection, to all such of tbem 
as should continue in their fidelity and allegiance to him, 
and in no wise abet or hold correspondence with the ene- 
mies of his crown; and therein assured them, that I would 
make a favorable representation of their state and circum- 
stances to His Majesty, and did accordingly transmit a rep- 
resentation thereof to be laid before him, and have there- 
upon received his royal pleasure, touching his aforesaid sub- 
jects in Nova Scotia, with his express commands to signify 
the same to them in his name: Now, by virtue thereof, and 
in obedience to said orders, I do hereby declare, in his Maj- 
esty's name, that there is not the least foundation for any 
apprehensions of his Majesty's intending to remove them, 
the said inhabitants of Nova Scotia, from their said settle- 
ments and habitations within the said Province; but that, 
on the contrary, it is his Majesty's resolution to protect and 
maintain all such of them as have adhered to and shall con- 
tinue in their duty and allegiance to him, in the quiet and 
peaceable possession of their respective habitations and set- 
tlements, and in the enjoyment of their rights and privileges 
as his subjects, &c, &c. 

"Dated at Boston, Oct. 21st, 1747. 

And this is farther continued by a letter, dated 29th of 
June in the same year, wrote to our deputies by Mr. Mas- 
carene, chief commander in Nova Scotia, which refers to 
Governor Shirley's hrst tieciaiation, of which we have a 
copy, legally autnenticated, part of which is as follows, viz.: 

" As to the fear you say you labor under, on account of 
being threatened to be made to evacuate the country, you 
have in possession his Excellency William Shiney's printed 
letter, whereby you may be maue easy in that respect: you 
are sensible of the promise I have made to you, tue effects 
of which you have already felt, thai; I woulu protect you so 
long as, by your good conduct and fidelity to the Crown of 
Great Britain, you w r ould enable me to do so, which prom- 
ise I do again repeat to you." 

Near the nine of the publication of the before-mentioned 
declaration, it was required tnat our deputies should, on oe- 
haJ: of all the people, renew the oatn formerly taiien to 
Geneial Phillips, whicn was done without any mention of 
bearing arms — and we can with trutn say, mat we ate not 
sensible of any alteration in our disposition or conduct, sine© 

x 



\T2 



ACADIA 



tbat time, but that we always continued to retain a grateful 
regard to your Majesty and your government, notwithstand- 
ing which, we have found ourselves surrounded with diffi- 
culties unknown to us before. Your Majesty determined 
to fortify our Province and settle Hadfax ; which the French 
looking upon with jealousy, they made frequent incurs >ns 
through our country, in order to annoy that settlement, 
whereby we came exposed to many straits and hardships; 
yer. from the obligations we were under, from the oath we 
had taken, we were never under any doubt, but that it was 
our indispensable duty and interest, to remain true to your 
government and our oath of fidelity, hoping that in time 
those difficulties would be removed, and we shouid see peace 
and tranquillity restored : and if, from the change of affairs 
in Xova Scotia your I^Iajesty had thought it not consistent 
with the safety of your said Province, to let us remain there 
upon the terms promised us by your Governors, in your 
Majesty's name, we shouid doubtless have acquiesced with 
any other reasonble proposal which might have been made 
to us, consistent with the sat'ety of our aged parents, and 
tender wives and children : and we are persuaded, if that 
had been the case, wherever we had retired, we saould have 
held ourselves under the strongest obligations of gratitude, 
from a thankful remembrance of the happiness we had en- 
joyed under your Majesty's administration and gracious pro- 
tection. About the same time of the settlement of Halifax, 
General Cornwalhs, Governor of Nova Scotia, did require 
that we shouid take the oata of adegiance without tne ex- 
emption before allowed us, of not bearing arms ; but tuia 
we absolutely refused, as being an infringement of tne prin- 
cipal condition upon which our forefathers agreed to settle 
under the British government. 

And we acquainted Governor Cornwallis, that if your 
Majesty was not willing to continue that exemption to us, 
we desired liberty to evacuate the country, proposing to 
settle on the Island of St. John, [now known as r/iince £1- 
ward Island,] wnere the .French Govemuieut was willing to 
let us have iaud ; which proposal ne at that dmo refused to 
consent to, but told us he would acquaint your Majesty 
therewith, and return to us an answer. But we never re- 
ceived an answer, nor was any proposal of that niad^ to us 
imui v>u were luuae prisoners. 



APPENDIX 373 

After the settlement of Halifax, we suffered many abuses 
and insults from your Majesty's enemies, more especially 
from the Indians in the interest of the French, by whom 
our cattle were killed, our houses pillaged, and many of us 
personal y abused and put in fear of our lives, and some 
-even earned away prisoners towards Canada, solely on ac- 
count of our resolution steadily to maintain our oath of fi- 
delity to the English Government; particularly Heue Le 
Blanc (our public notary), was taken prisoner by the Indians 
when actually traveling in your Majesty's service, his house 
pillaged, and himself carried to the French fort, froin whence 
he did nut recover his liberty, but with great difficulty, af- 
ter four years captivity. 

We were likewise obliged to comply with the demand of 
the enemy, made for provision, cattle, &c, upon pain of 
military execution, which we had reason to believe the Gov- 
ernment was made sensible was not an act of choice on our 
part, but of necessity, as those in authority appeared to 
take in good part the representations we always made to 
them after anythiug of that nature had happened. 

Notwithstanding the many difficulties we thus labored 
under, yet w r e dare appeal to the several Governors, botn at 
Halifax and Annapolis .Royal, for testimonies of our being 
always ready and willing to obey their orders, and give ad 
the assistance in our power, either in furnishing provisions 
and materials, or making roads, building forts. &c, agree- 
able to your Majesty's orders, and our oath of hdelity, wnen- 
soever called upon, or required tnereunto. 

It was also our constant care to give notice to your Maj- 
esty's commanders, of the danger they from time to time 
have been exposed to by the enemy's troops, andnad the in- 
fceidgence we gave been always attended to, many lives might 
have uten spared, particularly in the unUappy affair wnicn 
befell Major Isobie and his brother at Grand Pre; when 
they, with great numbers of then* men, were cut off by the 
enemy, notwithstanding the frequent advices we nad given 
them of the danger they were in; and yet we have been 
very unjustly accused, as parties in that massacre. 

And although we have been thus anxiously concerned, to 
manifest our ndelity in these several respects, yet it has been 
falsely insinuated, tnai it had been our geneiai practice to 
abet and support your Majesty's enemies; but we trust tnat 



374 ACADIA 

your Majesty will not suffer suspicions arid accusations to 
be received as proofs sufficient to reduce some thousands of 
innocent people, from the most happy situation to a state 
of the greatest distress and misery ! No, this was far from 
our thoughts; we esteemed our situation so happy as by 
no means to desire a change. We have always desired, and 
again desire tnat we may be permitted to answer our accus- 
ers in a judicial way* In the meantime permit us, Sir, here 
solemnly to declare, that these accusations are utterly false 
and groundless, so far as they concern us as a collective 
body of people. It hath been always our desire to live as 
our fathers have done, as faithful subjects under your Maj- 
esty's royal protection, with an umeigned resolution to 
maintain our oyth of fidelity to the utmost of our power. 
Yet it cannot be expected, but that amongst us, as well as 
amongst other people, there have been some weak and false- 
hearted persons, susceptibie 01 being bribed by the enemy 
so as to oreak tne oath oi* fidelity. Twelve 01 these were 
outlawed in Governor Shirley's proclamation before men- 
tioned; but it will be found that the number of such faise- 
hearted men amongst us were very few, considering our 
situation, the numoer of our inhabitants, and now we s:ood 
circumstanced in several respects; and it may easily be 
made appear, that it was the constant care of our deputies 
to prevent and put a stop to such wicked conduct, when it 
came to their knowledge. 

We understood that tne aid granted to the French by the 
inhabitants oi Ohignecto, has been used as an argument to 
accelerate our ruin; but we trust that your Majesty will not 
permit the innocent to be involved witn the gunty ; no con- 
sequence can be justly drawn, that, because those people 
yielded to the threats and persuasions of the enemy, we 
should do tne same. They were situated so far from flan- 
fax, as to be in a great measure out of the protection of the 
English Government, which was not our case ; we were sep- 
arated from them by sixty miles of uncultivated land, and 
had no other connection witn tnem, than what is usual with 
neighbors at such a distance; and we can truly say, we 
loo^eu on their defection from your Majesty's interest with 
great pain anu anxiety. Nevertheless, not long before our 
being made prisoners, the house in whicn we Kept our con- 
tracts, records, deeds, &c, was invested with an armed force, 



APPENDIX <T5 

and all our papers violently carried away, none of which 
nave to this day been returned to us, whereby we are in a 
great measure deprived of means of making oar innocer-.cy 
arid justness of our complaints appear in their true light. 

Upon onr sending a remonstrance to the Governor and 
Council, of the violence that had been offered us by the 
Seizure of our papers, and the groundless fears the Govern- 
ment appeared to be under on our account, by their tasiug 
away our arms, no answer was returned to us; but those 
who had signed the remonstrance, and some time after six- 
ty more, in all about eighty of our elders, were summoned 
to appear before the Governor and Council, which they im- 
mediately complied with; and it was required of them that 
they should take the oath of allegiance, without the exemp- 
tion, which, during a course of near fifty years, had been 
grauted to us and to our fathers, of not being obliged to 
bear arms, and which was the principal condition upon which 
our ancestors agreed to remain in Nova Scotia, when the 
rest of the French inhabitants evacuated the country : which, 
as it was contrary to our inclination and judgment, we 
thought ourselves engaged in duty absolutely to refuse. 
Nevertheless, we freely offered, and would gladly have re- 
newed, our oath of fidelity, but this was not accepted of, 
and we were all immediately made prisoners, and were told 
by the Governor, that our estates, both real and personal, 
were forfeited 'for your Majesty's use. As to those who re- 
mained at Lome, tney were summoned to appear before the 
Commanders in the forts, which, we shewing some fear to 
comply with, on the account of the seizure of our papers, 
and imprisonment of so many of our elders, we had the 
greatest assurance given us, tnat there was no other design, 
but co make us lenew our former oath of fidelity: yet as 
soon H6 we were within the fort, the same judgment was 
passed on us, as had been passed on our brethren at Eaii- 
fax, and we were also made prisoners. 

Thus, notwithstanding the solemn grants made to our 
fathers by General Philips, and the declaration made by 
Governor Snirley and Mr. Mascarene, in your Majesty's 
name, mat it was your Majesty's resolution to protect and 
maintain all such of us as should continue in their duly and 
allegiance to your Majesty, in the quiet and peaceable pos- 
session oi then* settlements, and the enjoyment oi. <Ll± meir 



3 7 b ACADIA 

rights and privileges, as your Majesty's subjects; wefonnc^ 
ourselves at once deprived of our estates and liberties, with- 
out any judicial process, or even without any accusers ap- 
pearing against us, and this solely grounded on mistaken 
jealousies and false suspicions that we are inclinable to 
to take part with your Majesty's enemies. But we again 
declare that that accusation is groundless: it was always 
our fixed resolution to maintain, to the utmost of our pow- 
er, the oath of fidelity which we had taken, not only from a 
sense of indispensable duty, but also because we were well 
satisfied with our situation under your Majesty's Govern- 
ment and protection, and did not think it could be bettered 
by any change which could be proposed to us. It has also 
been falsely insinuated that we held the opinion that we 
might be absolved from our oath so as to break it with im- 
punity ; but this we likewise solemnly declare to be a false 
accusation, and which we plainly evinced, by our exposing 
ourselves to so great losses and sufferings, rather than take 
the oath proposed to the Governor and Council, because we 
apprehended we could not in conscience comply therewith. 

Thus we. our ancient parents and grand parents, (men of 
great integrity aud approved fidelity to your Majesty,) and 
our innocent wives and children, became the unhappy vic- 
tims to those groundless fears: we were transported into 
the English Colonies, and this was done in so much haste, 
and with so little regard to our necessities aud the tender- 
est ties of nature, that from the most social enjoyments and 
affluent circumstances, many found themselves destitute of 
the necessaries of life: parents were separated from chil- 
dren, and husbands from wives, some of wiiom have not to 
this day met again ; and we were so crowded in the trans- 
port vessels, that we had not room even for ail our bodies 
to lay down at once, and consequently were prevented from 
carrying with us proper necessaries, especially for the sup- 
port and comfort of the aged and weali, many of whom 
quickly ended their misery with their lives. And even tnose 
amongst us who had suffered deepiy from your Majesty's 
enemies, on account of their attachment to your Majesty's 
Government, were equally involved in the common calami- 
ty, of whicn Rene Le Bianc, the notary public before men- 
tioned, is a remarkable instance. He was seized, confined, 
and brougnt away among the rest of tlie people, and his 



APPE^TDIX 37 i 

itr.Wovs, threats, nnd abuses,* which we have continuaTv, 
more or less, suffered from the French and Indians of Cau- 

ai'la on that account, particularly about ten years ago, when 
500 French and Indians came to our settlements, intending 
to attack Annapolis Royal, which, had their intention suc- 
ceeded, would have made them masters of a 7 l Nova Scotia, 
it being the only place of strength then in that Province, 
they earnestly solicited us to join with, and aid them there- 
in : but we pe; sisting in our resolution to abidj true to our 
Oath of Fidelity, and absolutely refusing to give them any 
assistance, f they gave over their intention, and returned to 
Canada. And about seven years past, at the setting of 
Halifax, a body of 150 Indians came amongst us, forced 
some of us from our habitations, and by threats and blows 
would have compelled us to assist them in way-laying and 
destroying the English then employed in erecting forts in 
different parts of the country ; but positively refusing, they 
left us, after having abused us, and made great havoc of our 
cattle, &g. I myself was six weeks before I wholly recov- 
ered of the blows received at t jat time. Almost number- 
less are thp instances which might be given of the abuses 
and losses we have undergone from the French Indians, on 
account of our steady adherence to our Oath of Fidelity; 
and yet, notwithstanding our strict observance thereof, we 
have not been able to prevent the grievous calamity which 
is now come upon us, and which we apprehend to be in 
great measure owing to the unhappy situation and conduct 
of some of our people settled at Chignecto. at the bottom 
of the Bay of Fundi, where the French, about four years 
ago, erected a fort ; those of our people who were settled 
near it, after having had many of tneh settlements burnt by 
the French, being too far from Halifax aud Port Royal to 
expect suAicient assistance from the English, were obliged, 
as we believe, more through compulsion and fear than in- 
clination, to join with and assist the French : which also 
appears from the Articles of Capitulation agreed on between 
Colonel Moncktou and the French Commander, at the de- 
livery of the said fort to tne English, whicn is exactly in the 
following words : 

" With regard to the Acadians, as they have been forced 



*See pp. 124, 125. fSee foot-no L es on pp. 167, 169, 194. 



380 ACADIA 

to take up arms on pain of death, they shall be pardoned 
for the part they have been taking/'* 

Notwithstanding this, as these people's conduct had giv- 
en just umbrage to the Government, and created suspicions 
to the prejudice of our whole community, w T e were sum- 
moned to appear before the Governor and Council at Kali- 
fax, where we were required to take the Oath of Allegiance, 
without any exception, which we could not comply with, be- 
cause, as that Government is at present situate, we appre- 
hend we should have been obliged to take up arms; but 
were still willing to take the Oath of Fidelity, and give the 
strongest assurances of continuing peaceabie and faithful 
to his Britannic Majesty, with that exception. But this, in 
the present situation of affairs, not being satisfactory, we 
were made prisoners, and our estates, both real and person- 
al, forfeited for the King's use; and vessels being provided, 
we were some time after sent off, with most of our families, 
and dispersed among the English Colonies. The hurry and 
confusion in which we w T ere embarked was an aggravating 
circumstance attending our misfortunes; for thereby many, 
who had lived in affluence, found themselves deprived of ev- 
ery necessaiy and many families were separated, parents 
from children, and children from parents. f Yet blessed be 
God that it was our lot to be sent to Pennsylvania, where 
our wants have been relieved, and we have in every respect 
been received with Christian benevolence and ciiaricy. And 
let me add, that notwithstanding the suspicions and fears 
which many are possessed of on our account, as though we 
were a dangerous people, who make little scrupie of breaking 
our Oaths, time will manifest that we are not such a people: 
No, the unhappy situation which we are now in, is a piain 
evidence thai this is a false charge, tending to aggravate 
the misfortunes Of an already too unhappy people ; lor, had 
we entertained such pernicious sentiments, we might easily 
have prevented our tailing into tne inelancnory circumstan- 
ces we are now in, viz. : deprived of our substance, banished 
from our native country, and reduced to live by cnarity in a 
strange land; and this for refusing to take an Oath, which 
Cliristiamty absolutely forbids us to violate, had we once 
taken it, and yet an Oath which we could not comply with, 



* See pp. 164 165. t See pp. 207, 208. 



APPENDIX 



881 



without being exposed to plunge our swords in the breasts 
of our friends and relations. TVe shall, however, as we 
have hitherto done, submit to what, in the present situation 
of affairs, may seem necessary, and with patience and resig- 
nation bear- whatever God, in the course of his Providence, 
shall suffer to come upon us. "We shall also think it our 
duty to seek and promote the peace of the country into 
which we are transported, and inviolably keep the Oath of 
Fidelity that we have taken to his gracious Majesty, King 
George, whom we firmly believe, when fully acquainted with 
our faithfulness and sufferings, will commiserate our unhap- 
py condition, and order that some compensation be made to 
us for our losses. And may the Almighty abundantly bless 
his Honor, the Governor, the honorable Assembly of the 
Province, and the good people of Philadelphia, whose sym- 
pathy, benevolence and Christian charity, have been, and 
still are, greatly manifested and extended toward us, a poor 
distressed and arhicted people, is the sincere and earnest 
prayer of 

John Baptiste Galeem. 



THE END. 



